Cheers: Winter drink tutorial from Farmers' Cabinet
Sometimes a hot chocolate isn’t the drink you want to warm up with on a cold winter night. Sometimes you need something a bit…stronger.
At the Farmers' Cabinet (1113 Walnut St.), three of their most popular winter drinks are the Old Fashioned, a Hot Toddy and a Bad Apple, according to mixologists Valerie Boyle and Philip Search.
When the weather is too cold to leave your house, we have the step-by-step tutorials for how to mix these drinks yourself.
The Old Fashioned is a classic, vintage drink while the Hot Toddy, with a clove dotted orange peel garnish, is warm and sweet. The Bad Apple is a Farmers' Cabinet house original. To finish this drink off you’ll need to heat up an orange peel and then spray its oils onto a match to create a mini fire show.
“It smells amazing and will definitely impress all your friends,” Search said.
Click through the gallery for the visual guide. Photographs by Hillary Petrozziello.
Old Fashioned
Ingredients:
Angostura aromatic bitters
Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Orange
Ice cubes (Ice ball)
Raw sugar
Hot water
Directions:
1. Pour 1/4 ounce of simple syrup over ice. The syrup is made using a 1 to 1 ratio of hot water and raw sugar.
2. Add 2-4 dashes of bitters.
3. Add 2 ounces of bourbon, rye or scotch.
4. Zest the orange by peeling a long slice and adding it to the cocktail as a finishing touch. Avoid peeling into the bitter white pith of the orange.
Rum Hot Toddy
Ingredients:
Angostura aromatic bitters
Rhum Barbancourt
Cloves
Orange
Hot water
Honey syrup (made from 1 part water, 1 part honey)
Directions:
1. Peel a long, thin slice of orange in a spiral motion.
2. Stud the orange peel with cloves.
3. Add 3/4 of an ounce of honey syrup. Create this simple syrup using one part honey, and one part water. This helps the ingredients blend together.
4. Add 2 ounces of rum.
5. Stir together ingredients using a long handle mixing spoon or bar spoon.
6. Add 6 ounces of hot water.
7. Twirl and insert previously studded orange peel in a glass.
Bad Apple
(Farmers’ Cabinet original)
Ingredients:
Laird's Apple Brandy (100 proof)
Meletti Amaro
Punt e Mes Vermouth*
Orange
Lemon
Directions:
1. Add 1/4 of an ounce of fresh squeezed lemon juice.
2. Add 1 ounce of apple brandy.
3. Add 1 ounce of fresh orange juice.
4. Add 1/2 of an ounce of vermouth.
5. Add 1/2 of an ounce of amaro.
6. Fill tin 3/4 of the way full with ice.
7. Shake until cold.
8. Double strain cocktail into glass (5.5 ounce glass recommended).
9. Toast orange peel with a match to release citrus oils.
10. Squeeze orange peel oils into fire to create a flame. This creates a warmer, less bitter flavored oil.
* Punt e Mes Vermouth can be specially ordered at most Wine and Spirits stores by request.
