Mike's Mix: Academy Award Cocktails

Every week on Saturday, Mike Augustyniak goes in search of a new cocktail idea from a local mixologist. This week, Mike celebrates the Academy Awards by sampling some Oscar-nominated movie-themed drinks.

Shoulda Been A Contender

(A spin on a 'Gold Rush' cocktail; Created by Nathaniel Smith)

Ingredients

2 oz Dewar's 12 Blended Scotch Whisky
¾ oz Honey simple syrup
¾ oz Lemon juice
Pinch of kosher salt
Edible gold leaf

Directions

Make the honey simple syrup by dissolving honey in an equal part of hot water.

Shake all ingredients vigorously over ice; long enough to combine and chill ingredients, and to break up the gold leaf into small flecks.  Serve on the rocks, in a lowball glass.

Taste Test

Nathaniel loved the movie "Creed" this year.  He feels that, while Sylvester Stallone received a deserved Best Supporting Actor nomination, Michael B. Jordan and the movie itself should have been nominated as well.  Hence the cocktail named 'Shoulda Been A Contender.'

Based on a classic bourbon drink, called a 'Gold Rush,' Nathaniel chose to use a 12-year blended Dewar's Scotch whisky instead. The smoky flavor is balanced by the lemon juice, and tamed by the honey syrup.  A little kosher salt pairs well with the smoke from the scotch, in the way sea salt is often paired with chocolate. For a little Oscars bling, don't forget the edible gold leaf, available at baking and craft stores.

Ares III

(A spin on a 'Scofflaw' cocktail; created by Elliot Manthey)

Ingredients

1 ½ oz Bombay Sapphire gin
¾ oz Hibiscus syrup
1 oz Martini & Rossi dry vermouth
The white from 1 egg

Directions

Create the hibiscus syrup by steeping dried hibiscus flowers (available at a lot of Hispanic grocery and specialty stores) in a 1:1 simple syrup for about 15 minutes; then, strain the flowers out.

Shake all ingredients together, WITHOUT ice first.  Then, shake with ice.  Strain into a coupe cocktail glasses.

Taste Test

This beautiful purple-red cocktail is meant to evoke a Martian tone; in fact, you can even garnish the drink with a 'red planet' design by cutting a circular stencil, and spraying Peychaud's Bitters onto the frothy head of the drink.  With a lush and velvety texture, the botanicals in the gin (particularly that from iris root, one of the 10 botanicals in Bombay Sapphire) pair well with the floral notes from the hibiscus syrup.

FOR MORE: While these drinks aren't on the menu at Spoon and Stable in Minneapolis's North Loop, you can find these types of seasonal riffs on classic cocktails at the bar.