Author Notes
One of my favorite cocktails ever is from Local Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant in my hometown of Ferndale, Michigan. It’s a drink made with a combination of whiskey, citrus juices ad simple syrup. Sounds like just a standard cocktail, right?
The real kicker is that there is a “floater” of red wine poured on top. When I first read the description on the menu, it sounded….strange. And I wasn’t sure it was going to be good. But I ordered it anyway, and it was fantastic. Strong but refreshing, sweet but not too much so, and a balanced combination of flavors. It was like whiskey drinks were always meant to have a little kick of wine.
For my home adapation, I took my favorite winter fruit – clementines – and made a (very simple) simple syrup. I swirled that into some whiskey, and added ice and a cherry. Then came the special part – a floater of red wine (my favorite is malbec). Hint: get the wine to float on top of the drink by slowing pouring the wine over a spoon right above the drink. —foxeslovelemons
Ingredients
- Clementine Simple Syrup
-
4
clementines, peeled and segmentd
-
1 cup
sugar
-
1 cup
water
- Cocktail
-
3 ounces
Clementine Simple Syrup
-
3 ounces
whiskey
-
Juice of 1/2 lemon
-
Maraschino cherries, for garnish (optional)
-
3 ounces
red wine such as malbec, for floating
Directions
-
Make Clementine Simple Syrup: In medium saucepan, stir together clementines, sugar and water. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing on fruit to extract as much liquid as possible. Refrigerate until cool. Makes about 1-1/2 cups simple syrup.
-
Fill two rocks glasses with ice; add a few cherries to each glass, if desired. Fill cocktail shaker with ice; add Clementine Simple Syrup, whiskey and lemon juice, and shake well.
-
Pour whiskey mixture over ice in glasses. Pour wine floater over top of cocktails by slowly pouring wine over a small spoon set over each glass.
See what other Food52ers are saying.