A perfect heat wave cocktail: the Remsen Cooler

I was trying to think of a good, cold, wet cocktail that wasn't a mojito and I remembered the Remsen Cooler, in particular, David Wondrich's version I read about in Esquire magazine on an airplane years ago. I even managed to find a link to it, with the photo, here (don't we live in marvelous times).

This is basically a glorified scotch and soda but what I like about it is that it's a rare instance where a flashy presentation—peeling an entire lemon in a single coil—really transforms the flavor of the drink. It's more lemon oil than lemon juice. And it looks really elegant, don't you think?

Remsen Cooler (based on David Wondrich's recipe)

• .5tsp powdered sugar (I often skip it)
• soda (I use seltzer—one of these days I need to figure out if club soda is really good for something)
• 2 oz scotch
• long lemon spiral

Dissolve sugar in some soda, add spiral, add rocks and liquor, top with soda.

***

PS The wife had a Do Be Careful, which solved the conundrum of the peeled-yet-unjuiced lemon. I also read somewhere that it's good for breastfeeding. Isn't it?

• 1 1/2 oz. Gin
• 1/2 oz. Cointreau
  1/2 oz. Lemon Juice (or to taste)
• splash of Grenadine

Shake with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry. Read more!

Matt's bitters in Edible Brooklyn

photo by Daniel Krieger

I am one of several cocktail enthusiasts whose brains were picked for an article on homemade bitters in the latest (summer) issue of Edible Brooklyn.
The article starts on page 19 and there's a nice photo of me and an old bottle of my bitters on the bottom of page 20. If you can't find it around Brooklyn, check out the digital edition (the link  actually takes you to the spring edition but if you click on "Archives" you'll find the summer issue there, assuming they haven't fixed this). Read more!