Outside, the leaves are falling, and so is the temperature. Though winter is still a few months away, it’s definitely jacket weather for many of us. We’re opting for warm pie over frozen treats and space heaters over air conditioners. And when it comes to booze, we’re ready to forgo the frozen margaritas and enjoy a drink that doesn’t make our teeth chatter with every sip. Here are our favorite cocktails served straight up, i.e. shaken with ice, then served without it.
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the ingredients and stir. Strain the drink into a martini glass or coupe glass and garnish with a marasca cherry.
La Regina Oscura by Food And Wine
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 ounces reposado tequila
- 3/4 ounce Ancho Reyes
- 1/2 ounce Zucca
- 1/2 ounce grapefruit juice
- 1/2 ounce lime juice
- 1/4 ounce agave syrup
Shake all of the ingredients with ice, then double-strain into a coupe and serve.
Ingredients:
- ½ ounce fresh lemon juice
- 1 ounce triple sec
- 1½ ounces brandy
Combine lemon juice, triple sec, and brandy in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.
Ingredients:
- 1 cube sugar
- 1 teaspoon cold water
- 2 ounces rye whiskey
- Dash Pernod
- Dash Peychaud’s bitters
- 3 or 4 ice cubes
- Twist lemon peel
Dissolve the sugar in cold water in a mixing glass. Add the whiskey, Pernod, bitters and ice cubes and stir well. Strain into a well-chilled glass, twist the lemon peel over the drink to release the oil, then drop it in.
Ingredients:
- 1 egg white
- 2 1/2 ounces Pisco Capel (see note)
- 1/2 ounce simple syrup
- 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
- Angostura Bitters (see note, below)
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine egg white, Pisco, simple syrup, and lemon juice. Cover, shake vigorously for 15 seconds, and strain into six-ounce cocktail glass. Top with a few drops of bitters.
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces gin, my favorite gin is 209
- 1/2 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
- 1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
- 1 thin slice of lime as garnish
Fill a pint glass with ice. Add the gin, Rose’s Lime Juice and fresh lime juice. Bury the pint glass or shaker in ice. Wait ten minutes. Wipe the rim of a martini glass with lime. Strain the cocktail into a martini glass and garnish with a slim slice of lime.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 fluid ounce creme de menthe
- 3/4 fluid ounce white creme de cacao
- 1/4 fluid ounce heavy cream
Combine creme de menthe, creme de cacao, cream, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Cover and shake until chilled. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Let’s say you order a Wild Turkey, “straight up”. Your bartender should assume you mean that you want your bourbon “neat”, and serve it as so. However, if you were looking for a chilled shot of whiskey in a cocktail glass, you probably should have dropped the “straight” and asked for your drink “up”. And if, as a bartender, you’ve received an order for a Ketel One “straight up”, you should probably check with your customer to make sure they’re looking for chilled vodka and vermouth, and not a glass of warm vodka.
If you walk into a bar and order a Dry Martini, “neat”, you might be served a tepid shot of Martini and Rossi Dry Vermouth in a room-temperature glass. That’s how the term “neat” is used. Although you know how much I love vermouth, nothing about that order sounds appetizing. What you were probably looking for was a Dry Martini, served “up. “Up” implies that there was some preparation involved, and that there is no ice in the final product. You can have a Manhattan on the rocks, or I can give it to you “up”.
I considered naming this article “How To Take an Order Behind the Bar”, since there seems to be a problem with bartenders and servers not fully understanding the vocabulary used in their workplace. I was reminded of this while reading this thread on the StraightBourbon.com forums some time ago. Yes, there seems to be some confusion about the terms “neat”, “up” (or “straight up”) and “with a twist”, and my goal is to try to help straighten this mess out.
Where the real confusion lies is with the term “straight up”. Although I don’t know where the choaos began, these days there is a bit of conversation required when that phrase is used.
The first – and simplest – term we’re going to examine is “neat“. “Neat” – as applied to drinks served in bars – refers to a shot of liquor poured directly from the bottle and into a glass. There is no chilling involved with a “neat” drink. There is never an additional ingredient in a drink served “neat”. You can not have a Screwdriver served “neat”. That’s not how we use the word.