Mike's Mix: Root 'n' Rye & The Stinger At The Commodore
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Every Saturday, Mike Augustyniak dives into the local craft cocktail scene and brings you the best of the best. This week, he stopped by The Commodore in St. Paul to try a few of the bar's most popular recipes.
Root 'n' Rye
- 2 ½ oz Few Rock and Rye (*bottle conditioned; see below for recipe)
- 3oz Frostop Red Birch Bark soda
- 3 drops of Dashfire Old Fashioned Bitters
- Garnish: 3" rock candy swizzle stick
Add all ingredients to a lowball glass, over large ice cubes.
* To make the Root 'n' Rye pre-mix (makes 1 bottle)
Mix add to 1 bottle of FEW rye:
- 1 Rock candy stick (can substitute 1 T sugar in the raw)
- 2 wide cut orange peels
- 6 Door County dried cherries
Taste Test
This drink is based on the Rock 'n' Rye, which appeared as an apothecary style elixir, and moved from the bar to the pharmacy during Prohibition. The rock candy helped to offset the poor taste and quality of the whiskey available at the time. In the Root 'n' Rye, rock candy provides the sweetness that usually comes from simple syrup today. Red birch bark soda also adds sweetness (without being overly sweet) and a deep red color. It's a more spirit-forward drink (typical of the early 20th century) that has a dryness that will be pleasing to whiskey drinkers.
The Stinger
- 2 oz. Yahara Bay Apple Brandy
- 1 oz. Deaths Door Wondermint
Combine ingredients over ice in a lowball glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Taste Test
This simple yet flavorful drink first appeared in print in Tom Bullocks Ideal Bartender in 1917, but there is evidence that it existed for decades before that. Traditionally cognac and crime de menthe were combined, or variations thereof. The Commodore uses local apple brandy made of Wisconsin honey crisp apples by Yahara Bay, and Deaths Door Wondermint liquor (you're not in college anymore; it's time to upgrade from the Rumplemintz or Dr. McGillicuddy's!) The result is a mint-forward drink that's not cloyingly sweet, and is refreshing in a wintry way.
The Commodore Bar & Restaurant re-opened in October 2015 in St. Paul's Cathedral Hill neighborhood.
