My friend Erik Ellestad is a man on a mission: he’s trying to systematically drink his way through the entire Savoy Cocktail book, and endeavor that no doubt requires a strong liver, and a stronger dedication to the cocktail than I possess. But he isn’t like your neighbor who liked to  ”play mixologist” and mixes you sickly sweet cocktails at parties – he’s serious, and makes a mean Manhattan to back up his swagger.  He also take his expedition off the inter-webs and into the bar at Alembic once a month for Savoy Sunday.

So why is this respectable looking bartender pouring what looks like homemade hooch out of a label free bottle?  Because this night featured a special batch of milk punch (the milk curdles in the punch, and is strained out, similar to cheese making) was a collaberation between me and him.  He provided the punch, and I provided the carbonation.

The resulting drink packed a nice balance of savory alcohol bite and hint of  sweet, with super-fine carbonation and a lot of booze. Poured over ice, it went down dangerously easily.

You’re not just limited to punch at these special evenings – the entire savoy cocktail book is available.  I recommend listening to your waitress’ advice on what to order.

All of this drinking on an empty stomach can be dangerous.  Lucky for you, the Alembic kitchen is always happy to prevent that. The highlights of the night were the watermelon, tomato and shrimp soup, and the “i’d swear I’m in a high end sushi restaurant” calamari and eggplant tempura dish. (Hot tip for ordering at Alembic – get the specials.)

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.

Many more pictures can be found here.

Tags: alembic, cocktails

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.