11/6/2023 0 Comments Espresso martini near me![]() ![]() “I think Dick has a number of great cocktails,” says Shoemaker, citing the Bramble-a blend of gin, lemon, simple syrup, and creme de mure over crushed ice-as one of them. Maybe espresso martinis are actually a utilitarian thing for our pandemic-sapped bodies, not just a viral trend. It goes down quickly, as the name might imply, and the caffeine gave me a much-needed boost for my post-dinner Saturday night of salsa dancing. The coffee flavor is bold and assertive yet only slightly sweet, with complexity from the amaros. When sipped, the cream float gives the drink a layered texture, kind of like drinking cheese tea. Here, brown butter-washed Old Forester bourbon meets a blend of amaros, housemade Vietnamese coffee syrup, and a float of heavy cream topped with nutty cracked black pepper. The drink blends ‘90s nostalgia with today’s trend of fat-washed liquor. My favorite, though, was Sunshine Noodles’s (2175 NW Raleigh St Suite 105) Le Quick Fix, a collaborative creation from chef Diane Lam and bartender Josh Whinnery. The most surprising thing? Teardrop Lounge doesn’t even have espresso martinis on its menu, nor does Shoemaker have any plans to add one. The '90s nostalgia appears to be limited to this cocktail, Shoemaker says he hasn't noticed an uptick in requests for lemon drops or Cosmos. It’s also, at its simplest, a three-ingredient cocktail that’s not too intimidating to try making at home. But the rebirth of the espresso martini, spurred by TikTok and reality TV shows, swept drinkers during the pandemic, much like the whipped and way-too-sweet Dalgona coffee. In pre-covid days, that same bottle would have lasted a couple years. But when Teardrop Lounge reopened in May 2021 after a pandemic hiatus, the bar ran out of its housemade Coava Coffee liqueur within five days. Until recently, Shoemaker thought his espresso martini-making days were over. “The espresso martini was part of the core canon.” But does he like them? His answer: a blunt no. “In the 90s…you had your cosmos, kamikazes, you had all this sugar and acid, all that nonsense,” he says. ![]() Teardrop Lounge (1015 NW Everett St) owner and bartender Daniel Shoemaker has been behind the bar for 25 years, when the first wave of the espresso martini was still going strong. The espresso martini was thought to be invented in the late 1980s after a model walked into London craft cocktail pioneer Dick Bradsell’s bar and asked for a drink: “Wake me up, then f*ck me up.” The classic recipe mixes vodka, espresso liqueur, and a shot of espresso, with three coffee beans on top for good luck-like a classier relative of the Red Bull and vodka, or the caffeinated Four Loko (RIP).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |