Hotel Du Pont Cocktail Recipes

This austere cocktail, as elegant and proper as the hotel it's named after, has long been associated with the Wilmington, Del., landmark, which still stands. This version of the drink is served at Le Cavalier at the Green Room, the hotel's new restaurant, which recently opened. It was devised by Tyler Akin, a Wilmington native and Philadelphia chef who is running the kitchen and is a partner in the restaurant.

Provided by Robert Simonson

Categories     cocktails

Yield 1 drink

Number Of Ingredients 5

• Ingredients

The old-fashioned is one of the oldest mixed drinks in the cocktail canon. (Original name: whiskey cocktail, which became old-fashioned whiskey cocktail, and then just old-fashioned.) It is a stirred drink, usually built in the glass in which it is served. Both rye and bourbon are suitable base spirits. For the sweetener, purists muddle up a sugar cube with water and a couple dashes of bitters, but simple syrup works as well. Twists can be orange, lemon or both (known as "rabbit ears"). A fruited version of the drink came into vogue after Prohibition and involves the muddling of a cherry and orange slice along with the sugar. That version remains widespread, but we advocate the more elemental rendition that took hold in the late 1800s, one that allows the flavors of the whiskey to shine.

Provided by Robert Simonson

Categories     cocktails

Time 2m

Yield 1 drink

Number Of Ingredients 4

• Ingredients

The Grasshopper served at Dante, a New York City cocktail bar, is a fairly straightforward affair, calling on the crème de menthe, crème de cacao and cream demanded by the drink's classic formula. To this, Dante adds an extra dose of both mint and chocolate flavor. The mint comes in the form of Branca Menta, the minty cousin to the Italian amaro Fernet Branca. Meanwhile, a slight shower of shaved chocolate on the drink's surface crowns the cocktail. Be sure the crème de menthe brand you end up using is of the green variety, and not the clear. The color of the cocktail, said Linden Pride, an owner of Dante, is "part of its success story; it catches people's attention."

Provided by Robert Simonson

Categories     cocktails

Yield 1 drink

Number Of Ingredients 6

• Ingredients

The Gold Rush was created in the early aughts at Milk & Honey, the famed cocktail speakeasy on the Lower East Side in New York. It came to be when T.J. Siegal, a friend and colleague of Sasha Petraske, the founder of Milk & Honey, came in one night and asked for a whiskey sour. Spying a batch of honey syrup Mr. Petraske had whipped up for a different cocktail, Mr. Siegal asked for his drink to be made with that instead of sugar. The winning result, silkier and richer in flavor than the average whiskey sour, was soon served to customers.

Provided by Robert Simonson

Categories     cocktails

Yield 1 drink, plus additional honey syrup

Number Of Ingredients 6

• Ingredients