This isn’t an easy drink to make, but it is guaranteed to impress any holiday party guests who love winter gin cocktails. “Named after a street not too far from our bar, The Granite Street Sour is an homage to the rich granite history of this region,” says Sam Nelis, bar director at Gin Lane Bar in Montpelier, Vermont. “This cocktail is a play on the contemporary classic Trinidad Sour. We use our barrel-aged Tom Cat Gin made with raw honey. Going beyond the dash, Angostura bitters can be used as a spirit too! Its flavors scream winter with its strong notes of cinnamon, clove, and other baking spices. Orgeat is a nut-based syrup, and we use the more sustainable pecan versus the original almond. This cocktail boasts warm, comforting notes—creamy vanilla, oak, and roasted pecan, accented with the wintry spice of the Angostura bitters. These flavors pair so well together we should write them down in stone. Granite stone, of course.”
1 oz. Tom Cat Gin
1 oz. Angostura bitters
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 oz. pecan orgeat
Ingredients for the pecan orgeat:
226 g pecans (or other nut)
742 g demerara sugar (or raw sugar)
3⅓ cups water
9 g cinnamon sticks
¼ g star anise
1 g whole cloves
8 g ground allspice
¼ tsp. rosewater (⅙ oz)
¼ tsp. orange flower water
¼ oz. cognac
Method for pecan orgeat: Roast nuts and the spices in the oven till golden brown. Do not burn them. Let cool a bit. Pulse in a food processor; you want a variation of larger chunks and powder and everything in between. Mix with sugar in a pot and add water. Heat gradually to a simmer, simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the whole time. Let cool and sit overnight. Strain through a cheesecloth or lay a cheesecloth out over a perforated flat pan with another pan to catch the drippings. Add the rosewater, orange flower water, and cognac at the end. Keep refrigerated.
To make cocktail: Add all ingredients into a cooled shaker, shake for about 30 seconds, pour into a coupe glass.
