Spring Spritz Shift Drinks Are In The Air

One of the best parts of working in restaurants was pretty much the same as any other industry–the happy hour at the end of the shift. Whether it was at a wine bar after the daytime shift, the dive bar across the street, or a buddy’s backyard, the comroderry with co-workers venting over the day’s work over some booze and bites was the best stress relief. My go-to drinks included sour beers, whiskey, and sparkling wine.

Things have changed since then obviously.

Now, it’s not like I don’t enjoy a good shift drink when I get home from work. COVID-19, in fact, has allowed me to stretch my creativity with these drinks. However, my “advanced” age and job tasting/serving 7-10 wine bottles a night haven’t allowed me to drink as much as I did pre-pandemic. I guess since I haven’t consistently worked for a year, my body’s not used to drinking so much. The solution to this…SPRITZES.

Spritzes are light, bubbly, and easy to make. But recently, they’ve been perceived as “basic” (see the NY Times article on Aperol Spritz). The best part of working in restaurants is seeing how bartenders take simple stuff to the next level. Like, who would have thought to use Averna in a spritz? Yeah, not me.

It also helps that Spring has the best of both worlds when it comes to ingredients, colors, and weather. It’s a perfect time to experiment. Here are some of my favorite experiments:

Chocolate Citrus Crush

Do you know those big chocolate balls designed like an orange and after you smashed it to pieces, you enjoyed the harmonious flavors of chocolate and orange? It wasn’t the inspiration for this cocktail. I just needed to use up some King’s County chocolate whiskey (moonshine infused with cocoa husks)…and I was craving chocolate. I also kept seeing commercials for sumo citrus; and because I’m hella susceptible to advertisements, I bought some. The sweetness of sumo citrus and the bitterness of the chocolate whiskey balance each other out, making the flavor profile a match made in heaven for a rainy Spring day.

Ingredients:
•2 dashes Orange bitters
•1/2 oz Orgeat syrup
•1 oz Sumo citrus (they go out of season late in April, but it can be made with any orange)
•2 oz Prosecco (it has a sweetness to it to complement the citrus and balance the chocolate whiskey)

Instructions:
1. Shake all ingredients except the Prosecco in a cocktail shaker full of ice until cold (10 seconds)
2. Strain mixture in a highball glass filled with crushed ice
3. Top with Prosecco and stir; wrap orange twist around straw to garnish

Stop and Sip the Flowers

Flowers look pretty, but aromas/flavors of flowers in drinks make me a little nauseous (don’t get me started on Viognier wine). This may be because I was exposed to too much perfume in the high school girl’s locker room in P.E. But what’s a more appropriate trend (to the point of cliché) for spring than flowers?

Oddly enough, I crushed this drink! Maybe it was the acidity in the rosé…maybe it was lemon juice brightening up the Benedictine–which was made with like 27 flowers and herbs–and Cremé de Violette…maybe it is just a way to create a riff on an Aviation cocktail with some bubbles. Either way, this drink is perfect for when the sun actually shines.

Ingredients:
•1/4 oz Lemon juice, fresh squeezed
•1/2 oz Benedictine
•3/4 oz Crème de violette
•2 oz Sparkling rosé

Instructions:
1. Shake all ingredient except the sparkling rosé in a cocktail shaker full of ice until cold (10 seconds)
2. Strain mixture in a coupe; top with sparkling rosé and stir

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Sangria

My co-workers and I talked about some go-to drinks before service became hectic. The topic included beer, spritzers, and a concoction of Coca-Cola and red wine. It took me by surprise. But, according to my friend who lives up in the Upper West Side and grew up in Brooklyn, it's a common drink among Dominicans. The creativity light bulb lit up.

The drink took a while to conceptualize as well as develop the flavor profile. Did I want it to taste sweet or have some sort of complex, yet refreshing bitterness? How could I emulate the flavors of Coke without actually using Coke? What would be the right balance of booze to mixer (i.e. sugar and citrus)? Once I got the flavors and specs right, my boyfriend likened it to a sangria. But it’s not. It’s better.

Ingredients:
•1/2 oz Simple syrup
•1/2 oz Lemon juice, fresh squeezed
•1/2 oz Mr. Black's Coffee Liqueur
•1 oz Spiced rum (I used Kasama, a Filipino craft rum with lots of lime and pineapple flavors)
•2 oz Lambrusco

Instructions:
1. Shake all ingredient except the lambrusco in a cocktail shaker full of ice until cold (8-10 seconds)
2. Strain mixture in a red wine glass filled with ice; top with Lambrusco and stir

And what better way to enjoy all these spritzes, especially the Non-Sangria Spritz, than with a slice of cheese pizza after a long work week.