Love Potions: 4 Valentine’s Day Cocktails
Mix up one of these lovely libations for your booze-loving beau this V-Day and get drunk in love.
Fun fact: Legado is Sacramento’s first female-owned whiskey brand. Their spirits are sold at local stores like Raley’s and Bel Air, in addition to a bevy of area bars and restaurants.
• 1.5 oz. J.J. Pfister Navy Strength Rum
• .75 oz. mint simple syrup
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters
• Orange expression
Fun fact: The distillery’s namesake and family patriarch, J.J. Pfister, started the first knitting company in San Francisco in the late 1800s. His signature item became the wool swimming suit, which is on display in the distillery’s museum.
• 2 oz. Legado Rye
• *1 oz. Burly Beverages Pineapple-Nutmeg Shrub Syrup
• .5 oz. fresh lemon juice
• Lemon wheel, to garnish
• *1 oz. Burly Beverages Pineapple-Nutmeg Shrub Syrup
• .5 oz. fresh lemon juice
• Lemon wheel, to garnish
Rye Love You
Fill 10-12 oz. glass to top with ice. Add all ingredients to glass and top with your favorite seltzer. Stir and garnish with a lemon wheel.
*Sacramento-based company; available at burlybeverages.com
Fun fact: Legado is Sacramento’s first female-owned whiskey brand. Their spirits are sold at local stores like Raley’s and Bel Air, in addition to a bevy of area bars and restaurants.
LOVE ELIXIR
Submitted by J.J. Pfister Distilling, 9819 Business Park Drive, Sacramento, 916-672-9662, jjpfister.com, @ jjpfisterdistilling
• .75 oz. mint simple syrup
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters
• Orange expression
Love Elixir
Pour rum and mint syrup over ice; stir gently to chill. Strain over a large ice cube into a rocks glass. Add chocolate bitters. Cut a strip of orange peel and squeeze over your cocktail to express the orange oil. Drop the peel into the glass to garnish.
CRIMSON & CLOVER
Submitted by New Alchemy Distilling, 5050 Robert J Mathews Parkway, Suite 250, El Dorado Hills, 510-387-0897, newalchemydistilling.com, @newalchemydistilling• 1.5 oz. Fleurette Vermilion Gin
• .5 oz. créme de cassis
• .5 oz. *The Perfect Purée Red Raspberry Purée
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• .25 oz. clove simple syrup
• .5 oz. créme de cassis
• .5 oz. *The Perfect Purée Red Raspberry Purée
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• .25 oz. clove simple syrup
Crimson & Clover
Shake all ingredients over ice and double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with edible flower petals.
NOTE: Mist coupe glass with rose water before straining drink.
*Napa Valley-based company; available at perfectpuree.com
Fun fact: The botanicals used in their gins are hand sorted, weighed, and ground, then precisely extracted by vapor-path distillation using a unique still the New Alchemy family designed and built.
APPLE OF MY EYE
Submitted by Frey Ranch Distillery, 1045 Dodge Lane, Fallon, NV, 775-423-4000, freyranch.com, @freyranchdistillery
• 1.5 oz. Frey Ranch Bourbon
• 1 oz. Martinelli's (or Simply Apple) unfiltered apple juice
• .75 oz. fresh lemon juice
• .75 oz. brown sugar syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters
• Apple slice, to garnish
• 1 oz. Martinelli's (or Simply Apple) unfiltered apple juice
• .75 oz. fresh lemon juice
• .75 oz. brown sugar syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters
• Apple slice, to garnish
Apple of My Eye
Add all ingredients into a shaker tin. Shake and strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube. Garnish with apple slice.
Fun fact: Frey Ranch is a “ground-to-glass” distillery and Nevada’s only whiskey producer to grow 100% of its grains on-site.
by Megan Wiskus
New Alchemy photo by Jason Somerby. Other photos courtesy of their respective companies or organizations.