In Sherry A Modern Guide to the Wine World’s Best-Kept Secret, with Cocktails and Recipes (Ten Speed Press, October 14-2014), Talia Baiocchi declares her love for the real sherry not the cheap knock offs.
Travel to Spain with her and (re) discover an authentic drink rooted in tradition.
Here’s a taste you can toast with this cocktail excerpted from ‘Sherry’.
New Spain
New York City bartender Sam Ross’s Penicillin—a mix of scotch, lemon, honey, and ginger—became one of the few drinks to quickly establish itself within the tiny category of “modern classics.” It’s a drink I return to often and one I am always pleased to meet on a cocktail list. The Penicillin’s foolproof combination of smoky, spicy, sweet, and sour has sparked a whole category of riffs, including this one. I used the same flavor blueprint and subbed in mezcal, amontillado, lime, and agave to give it a muggier, bass-toned Latino updo. What the drink illustrates well is the strong relationship between sherry and spirits like mezcal or scotch, which tend to have an iodine and salt
component that is echoed in both fino and amontillado.
1 (.-inch-thick) slice fresh ginger, peeled
. ounce agave nectar
. ounce lime juice
2 ounces amontillado
1 ounce Del Maguey Vida mezcal
Garnish: nutmeg, lime wheel
Add the ginger to a mixing glass with the agave and lime juice and muddle.
Add the sherry and mezcal, and fill with ice. Shake, and finely strain over a large cube of ice into a rocks glass.
Grate nutmeg over the top and garnish with the lime wheel.
(* Reprinted with permission from Sherry, by Talia Baiocchi, copyright 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House LLC. Photography copyright © 2014 by Ed Anderson)