Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Night Moves

Happy Friday once again! This week I’m continuing on the cognac train, since last week was a success. As well as wanting to experiment with this ingredient more. Since last week featured a split base of whiskey and cognac, I wanted to look to see what I could find with a split of cognac and gin. Much to my surprise, there are a few gin and cognac cocktails so I had some options. I settled on making the Stay Up Late. According to Serious Eats (where I took the recipe from) this is a 1940s era twist on a Tom Collins from the Stork Club cocktail book (I should look for this…).  It sounds excellent and refreshing. So let’s get to it.

Stay up late

1 1/2 ounces London Dry gin such as Beefeater
1/2 ounce cognac such as Pierre Ferrand
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
Garnish: brandied cherry, orange wedge

Add lemon juice, simple syrup, gin, and cognac to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, then shake briefly. Strain into a ice-filled collins glass. Top with club soda, garnish with brandied cherry and orange wedge, serve with a straw.

Unfortunately I am out of Luxardo cherries and oranges, otherwise I would have added those with the garnish. I also forgot to grab a straw until I was more than halfway done with the drink. Oops…

No aroma at work here. The soda topper sees to that I’m sure.

Oh hello summer beverage. This is excellent. It starts off with an ice cold blast of effervescent soda. That hit is extremely refreshing, and if the temperature was in the mid 80s outside, this would be perfect. The more I sip it down the more I can start to pick up some of the other flavors, most notably the lemon. But even now, the lemon flavor is ever so subtle. It’s there, but not overly dominating the palate or making it unbearably sour. More sips down and now I can get the sweetness from the simple syrup. It does a nice job keeping other stronger items from taking over. I think it is starting to taste a little bit better actually. Now I can get some of the gin as well as deeper cognac notes. It works out really well.

The finish is a nice, citrusy-sweet mix with hints of gin and cognac. Not too strong, just right. The lemon does hang around on the palate afterwards for a little, bit. But again, because it isnt crazy sour, I don’t totally hate it, nor does it make me not want to take another sip. Quite the contrary actually. I want more of this, almost as soon as I’m done.

No wonder some people call this air conditioning in a glass. This this cools you down and makes you wanna crush more of them. I’m really looking forward to making more of these when the weather starts getting warmer.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)