Not Just for Wimbledon and New Orleans Anymore

I had my first encounter with Pimm's No. 1, appropriately enough, in Wimbledon. It was 1999. Business has relocated a college friend there temporarily. While visiting with him in his lush back yard, he made me a Pimm's Cup and told me he was mad about the stuff. Didn't I love it?

I'll be honest. It didn't make much of an impression at the time. I assumed that my friend was passing through an acute case of Anglophilia and had lost all sense of perspective where English-made goods were concerned.

Pimm's didn't truly leave its mark on me as a drink until 2006, when I stepped across the threshold of the Napoleon House in New Orleans. Everyone was drinking Pimm's Cups, and the bartender was making them by the half-dozen. When in Rome, I thought. 

I liked the drink immediately this time. That it was July and scorching outside, and the cocktail was light and refreshing, certainly helped stoke my affections. I've had many Pimm's Cups at Napoleon House since, as well as at other bars across the world, and at home, where I build them fairly frequently between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

It was a pleasure to report, in this article for the New York Times, that you can walk into almost any respectable bar in NYC today and order a Pimm's Cup with confidence.

Cocktails to the Maks

There are two things every serious New York drink should do at least once on a Monday night. One is take in a "Tiki Monday" at Lani Kai. The second is experience one of bartender Maks Pazuniak's "Something Like This" sessions at the Counting Room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The menu is different every week, featuring five of Pazuniak's original, bitter and beguiling liquid creations (and sometimes a classic or two). Monday is the only day of the week Pazuniak works at the Brooklyn bar (though he designed the place's entire cocktail menu). So if you want to experience his work first-hand, that's when you go. If you merely want to taste one of his drinks, go to the The Counting Room any night and order a Salt & Ash, or Wire & String. Or go to nearby Maison Premiere and take in a Carondelet—a remnant of his short bartending stint there.

Here's a story I wrote for Wine Enthusiast about him:

Beta Cocktails

At this summer's Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans, in a room off the lobby of Hotel Monteleone, was an impromptu bookstore featuring only books about beer, spirits and cocktails. The pop-up book shop is a feature of every Tales. This year, the best-selling tome was, somewhat predictably, David Wondrich's "Punch." The second-best-selling volume, however, was a dark horse: a thin, square, white, self-published item called "Beta Cocktails."

"Beta Cocktails" is the second coming of "Rogue Cocktails," a tiny book put out a couple years ago by two New Orleans bartenders with the intense names of Kirk Estopinal and Maksym Pazuniak (called Maks for short). They then worked at New Orleans' much-vaunted cocktail den Cure. (Kirk is still there, while Maks has moved to New York.) Their intent in putting out the booklet was to shake up the working cocktail paradigm by introducing some truly radical recipes that relied not on the usual liquors and liqueurs, but Italian amari and bitters.

I stupidly did not buy a copy of "Rogue Cocktails" when I first saw it in July 2009. But I sampled a few of the cocktails therein at Cure, and was duly impressed by their originality. They frankly amazed me. One used Angostura bitters as its base, the other Peychaud's bitters. As anyone knows, these products are typically employed by the dashful. Kirk and Maks' drinks used full ounces. I also tried something called The Start and Finish (by Rhiannon Enlil, another name that's hard to wrap your tongue around), which combined Averna, Lillet Blonde, dry vermouth, absinthe and orange bitters. It was remarkable.

When Maks started making drinks at Williamsburg's Counting Room, I started bugging him about publishing a new run of "Rogue Cocktails." He told me he had a new version of the cocktail book in the works. It took him more than a year to finally get it together. Beta Cocktails made its debut at the Tales book store. (I, in fact, bought a copy just minutes after the books had been delivered by Maks and Kirk.)

Counting Room Unveils Fall Cocktail List

The Counting Room, the Williamsburg bar which is armed with the great mixologist Maks Pazuniak, whose amazing work with cocktails I first encountered last summer at Cure, a bar in New Orleans, has a new cocktail list. 

A couple great drinks, the Salt & Ash and the Italian Heirloom, will remain. But a few new ones arrive:

One for Sorrow, Two for JoyDeaths Door Gin, Lime, Rich Simple, Laphroaig 10 Yr

Blackboard JungleSmith & Cross Rum, Lime, Pedro Ximenez Sherry, Allspice Dram

How to TravelCinnamon-infused Laird's Applejack, Cinzano Italian Vermouth, Lemon, Honey, Angostura, Lagunitas IPA

New York in the 70'sOld Overholt Rye, Smith & Cross, Islay Scotch, Demerara, Boker's Bitters, Green Chartreuse and Orange oil.

A Visit to the Counting Room: Brooklyn Gets the Cure

The Counting Room, a new restaurant and bar, opened in April on Berry Street in Williamsburg. I spent my time during a recent visit in the downstairs space, where there's a long bar, brick walls and plenty of space.

I have become enthused about the prospects of the joint when I learned the man behind the bar was Maks Pazuniak, whose amazing work with cocktails I first encountered last summer at Cure, a bar in New Orleans which, for my money, ranks as one of the best in the nation. I actually didn't put two and two together until I was home. (When I was introduced, I heard "Max," not Maks.) But I knew something was up when I tasted the deeply complex Salt & Ash, which must be one of the best Mezcal-Tequila cocktails in town.

The smoky drink is made of Chichicapa Mezcal, Grapefruit-infused El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Lapsang Sweet Vermouth, Maraschino, Agave, Angostura, Orange Bitters. The emphasis on cleverly deployed bitter ingredients is reminiscent of the work at Cure. Should have drunk more after I tried that one. But I'll be back. The full cocktail menu is below. Pazuniak said seven of the cocktail are his own creations, including the Italian Heirloom and the Arbitrary Nature of Times. Salt & Ash is a variation of a cocktail Pazuniak created at Cure called the Improved Scotch Sling.

French Compromise
Orange-infused Beefeater Gin, Lemon, Prosecco

A Lazy Spring
Beefeater Gin, Rosemary-infused Bianco Vermouth, Lemon, Honey, Black Peppercorn

Karmic Fate
El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Plymouth Sloe Gin, Lemon, Egg White

Vanishing Sun

Clement Rhum Agricole, Maraschino, Grapefruit, Lime, Honey, Mint, Angostura Bitters, Regan's Orange Bitters

Empire Sour
Laird's Applejack, Lemon, Egg White, Angostura, Carpano Antica Formula

Salt & Ash
Chichicapa Mezcal, Grapefruit-infused El Jimador Blanco Tequila, Lapsang Sweet Vermouth, Maraschino, Agave, Angostura, Orange Bitters

No. 49
Plymouth Gin, Yellow Chartreuse V.E.P.

Red Light Companion
Bol's Genever, Campari, Dolin Dry Vermouth

Sherry, Jerez, Xeres
Fino, Amontillado, Oloroso, Mint

The Arbitrary Nature of Time
Wild Turkey Rye 101, Campari, Cherry Heering, Mole Bitters, Orange Bitters

Italian Heirloom
Cynar, Laphroaig 10 yr , Dewars, Salt