As wine and Champagne flowed throughout the weekend of the Lexus Gran Fondo, summer cocktails on the lawns stole the spotlight. For the opening night lawn picnic, the Chatham Bars Inn concocted a pair of perfect summer drinks.
The flute (above) contains a Beach Plum Royale. Ingredients include orange simple syrup and a dose of beach plum liqueur. The hotel staff makes the liqueur when beach plums are in season, They lay down the liqueur to age and use it throughout the year. A generous pour of Veuve Clicquot Brut tops the glass. Bubbles buoy up a thin rim of orange peel, keeping it in suspension halfway up the glass.
The deep goblet holds a spectacular ginger-infused version of Sangría. Lillet Rosé forms the base. The rosé version of this old-time favorite aperitif wine is a fairly new product. It is fermented from Muscatel as well as Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes. Just before bottling, a small amount Lillet Rouge joins the mix. Additions of bitter orange distillations and a touch of quinine make it a great mixer. For the party sangría, the Chatham Bars Inn bar staff added ginger syrup, fresh lime juice, and guava juice. They topped each glass with ginger ale and added a blueberry for color. The combination is remarkably refreshing.
Just as Lexus imported some Lexus Master Chefs for the Gran Fondo, it also brought along Lexus Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy, the wine director of Little Nell in Aspen and one of the youngest master sommeliers in the U.S. McCoy guided wine choices at the dinners. But he also shook, stirred, and poured some nifty cocktails of his own for brunch on the day after the big ride.
Carlton McCoy cocktails
At left, McCoy is creating a Blood Orange Mimosa. The gorgeous drink is deceptively simple to make. His mixer contains blood orange juice and a bit of Cointreau, a sweet orange liqueur without the bite of Grand Marnier. For each flute, he poured in a generous shot (about 2 fluid ounces) and topped with Mumm Cordon Rouge brut Champagne. It was such a popular choice that most drinkers didn’t even wait to get the orange peel garnish.
The White Peach Bellini, a similar but less colorful drink, began with a mix of fresh juice from white peaches mixed with lemon juice and sugar. The same Champagne topped off the flute, and if drinkers were patient, they also got a spring of mint as a garnish.
To our taste, the most unusual McCoy concoction was a variant on the St-Germain Cocktail. The base liqueur is distilled from elderflowers gathered in the French Alps in the spring and swiftly rushed to the distillery on bicycles. (This is according to the official St-Germain propaganda.) Nothing quite tastes like St-Germain, though the aroma might remind you of a cross between fresh lilac and freshly cut grass. It is sharp and floral at the same time. Most cocktails drown the liqueur in a lot of wine or Champagne and sweeten heavily. McCoy took a different approach, combining some fresh lime juice with the liqueur and topping it off with a pour of cold Prosecco. With a lemon twist, the drink is light, bright, and surprisingly adult.