Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Madrono: Strawberry Cobbler Cocktail


Do you remember the Belmont Breeze cocktail I posted about a couple months ago? It used Dry Sack, a Sherry which is a blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez grapes and is aged for six years under the Solera system of blending. I have another new cocktail for you, also using Dry Sack.

The Madroño, winner of the 2007 U.S. Sherry Cocktail Competition, is a twist on the traditional Sherry Cobbler cocktail. I had never heard of a Cobbler cocktail before but it is supposed to use a base spirit of wine, sugar, fresh fruit and ice. The original was the Sherry Cobbler, very popular in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Mixologist Giuseppe Gonzalez, currently at The Clover Club in New York, created the Madroño using fresh strawberries and Dry Sack.

"The cocktail was beautiful and balanced on its own merits. The strawberry, cinnamon, and demerara sugar combined with the Dry Sack created a delicious combination. This cobbler is an impressive nod to a classic cocktail. It was also a cocktail that was driven by Sherry, in that it was the principal ingredient. That wasn't a deciding factor at all, but it was nice to see Giuseppe utilize Sherry as the base for a cocktail and execute it perfectly," Andy Seymour, U.S. Sherry Ambassador.

Madroño
3 oz. Dry Sack
2 strawberries
2 cinnamon sticks
½ oz. Torani Amer
2 barspoons Demerara Syrup

Muddle one strawberry in Torani Amer. Break cinnamon stick in half in cocktail shaker. Add Dry Sack. Shake.
Serve in wine goblet or rocks glass. Add ice. Garnish with fanned strawberry, cinnamon stick and a straw.

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