Created by Chris Lehault
Cider makes for an excellent cocktail ingredient. It lightens drinks while adding both depth and character. Perfect for highballs, coolers, and even fluted drinks, the cider’s diversity as a cocktail mixer makes it one of the most overlooked ingredients behind the bar today. For these recipes I want to stay close to the cocktail tradition but also create drinks that reflected Washington’s revival of small-batch distilling. Each recipe is a variation on a classic.
A localized take on the classic French 75, the Washington 75 is a fruitier, more floral variation of the classic.
This recipe works best with a dry cider, and Tieton Blend Cider provides the right depth and a blend of citrus and pepper notes to compliment for the citrus and spice notes of Oola Gin. A dash of lavender bitters bring out the gin’s floral notes. Be careful, this one is dangerously drinkable!
1 oz Oola Gin
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup or
2 t superfine sugar
2 oz Tieton Blend Cider
chilled Dash of Scrappy’s Lavender Bitters
Instructions: Shake the gin, lemon juice, sugar, and bitters in a chilled cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a champagne flute and top with Tieton Blend Cider.
Garnish with a twist of lemon and serve immediately.
