Anna Ferguson-Sparks: Deliberate drinks – Santa Barbara Wine Country Cocktails
If lingering St. Patrick’s Day musings have you thirsting for whiskey over wine, Santa Barbara wine country will no longer disappoint: we’ve got some decidedly cunning cocktail inventions with additives like house-made honeycomb sweet and shrubs, smoked citrus oils, Oregon-made absinthe, and rum from Pennsylvania. Suffice it to say that our much less-cited United States cocktails need to share the spotlight with our local wine.
When you’re seeking to swill something other than Sauvignon Blanc or Sangiovese, sidle as much as one in every of our area’s bars wherein the concoctions are homemade with the aid of mixologists, cooks, and owners – who take as an excellent deal satisfaction in their cunning cocktails as winemakers do of their wine.
Please show me the manner to the next whiskey bar…
The historical 1880 Union Saloon inside the foodie-embellished “Old West” town of Los Alamos boasts a divided cocktail listing with several of the vicinity’s most strategic sips. Split among non-whiskey and whiskey options, performs on classic whiskey drinks can be discovered here:
“New York Sour” (with local egg white and a jammy, neighborhood crimson wine drift)
“Fatal Hour” (a bone-jarring Manhattan with Rittenhouse Rye, Amaro Nonino, and Aztec Chocolate bitters, with a layer of Luxardo)
“Sazerac,” New Orleans inspired (primed by using a St. George Absinthe rinse, with Sazerac Rye Whiskey, natural sugar, Peychaud’s Bitters, and smoked orange oils)
Their non-whiskey opposite numbers worthy of mention are:
1880’s “Barrel-Aged Negroni” (Bols Genever, Carpano Antica, Campari, a spritz of lemon oils),
“Aviation” (Aviation gin, Luxardo, Crème de Violette, clean-pressed lemon, Luxardo cherries)
“The Sisco Kid” (Monte Alban Mezcal, Green Chartreuse, pineapple-jalapeño shrub, sparkling-pressed lime, smoked Maldon salt)
Fans of the bourbon-primarily based “Old Fashioned” will discover a version on Norman’s carefully curated cocktail menu at Skyview Los Alamos, which additionally features the famous drink pick out, “Milk + Honey,” made with bourbon, spiced rum, nearby honey, chai-infused milk, and garnished with house-made honeycomb sweet.