It’s testament to a bar’s success and longevity that it’s able to publish a hefty book full of cocktail recipes, ingredient guides, anecdotes and stunning photos to boot.
New York’s Death & Co. recently released “Death & Co.: Modern Classic Cocktails,” and the book — which is so much more than just a collection of recipes — is a veritable ode to the current cocktail renaissance that Death & Co. (which opened in 2006) and other bars have been responsible for creating and nurturing. A mecca for any cocktail enthusiast, the East Village bar has been crucial over the years in introducing people to drinks beyond the appletini. Drinks such as the Oaxaca Old Fashioned, made with mezcal at a time when the smoky agave spirit was little known. Drinks such as the Conference, a tiki cocktail disguised as an Old Fashioned and featuring two base spirits, rye and bourbon, instead of one.
And drinks such as the Strange Brew, a beer-and-gin elixir that “uses beer like a modifier: to add a spicy, aromatic flavor, enhancing the base spirit rather than overwhelming it.”
The bartender who created it, Thomas Waugh, also did something else ingenious, according to the book. “Cocktails made with pineapple juice are often flabby or overtly tiki-esque, whereas here he uses it as the focus of the drink. The resulting composition surrounds the tropical richness of pineapple with the spice of gin and hoppy IPA.”
Strange Brew
2 oz. Tanqueray No. Ten Gin
3/4 oz. Velvet Falernum
1 oz. pineapple juice
1/2 oz. lemon juice
Green Flash West Coast IPA
1 mint sprig for garnish
Short shake all the ingredients, except the IPA, with three ice cubes, then strain into a pilsner glass filled with crushed ice. Top with IPA. Garnish with the mint and serve with a straw.
— Death & Co.’s Thomas Waugh
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