The NoMad Hotel’s bar manager Chris Lowder created a perfect cocktail game plan to shepherd you through your bachelor party, wedding reception and after party. Good times only get better with a great cocktail in your hand.
Bachelor Party
Negroni Sbagliato
“A bachelor party is an all-night affair, so you don’t want your drink of choice to be too boozy or you and your buddies may not make it to the end of the evening,” says Lowder. He recommends the Sbagliato, a Negroni variation that replaces gin with champagne. Although the cocktail is bold with masculine flavors, it is relatively light and effervescent: best of both worlds, if you will. It is also an easy drink to make. You can easily whip up rounds of the cocktail in the back of a limo without any special bar tools. The herbal sweetness of Carpano Antica and the refreshing acidity of champagne are perfect foils for the intense bitterness of Campari, an Italian aperitif liqueur. If you get tired of the cocktail, you can always start drinking the sparkling wine out of the bottle. What happens at bachelor party, stays at bachelor party.
Directions:
1.5 oz Campari
1.5 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
Fill a rocks glass with ice and add ingredients. Top with chilled champagne and garnish with an orange twist.
Wedding
Monferrato
Does anything scream wedding more than a glass of bubbly? We don’t think so. The Monferrato is a signature cocktail from the award-winning team of bartenders at The NoMad Hotel, that combines sparkling wine with complex bitters, aromatic orange liqueurs and Cocchi Americano. It is a refreshing drink, perfect for sipping through wedding receptions. “The drink is low enough in alcohol that everyone will make it through the wedding without any embarrassing speeches,” says Lowder, “but it does carry a sneaky kick that will put everyone in a great place for the after party.”
Directions:
3 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
.5 oz. Combier orange liqueur
1 oz. Cocchi Americano
Add ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with chilled champagne and an orange twist.
After Party
Mamie Taylor
For the after party, you need a crowd pleaser. Lowder recommends the Mamie Taylor, a classic cocktail named after an opera singer from the late 19th century. The blended Scotch whisky adds a pleasant smokiness to the drink, while the zesty ginger syrup and lime juice keeps it refreshing. It will keep you refreshed and hydrated, even after embarrassing yourself on the dance floor. Your guests don’t fancy Scotch? You can substitute it with any other spirit, and the drink will remain delicious nonetheless. “You just can’t go wrong with a Mamie Taylor,” says Lowder, “and that’s important because everyone in that room is your family now.”
Directions:
2 oz blended Scotch
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz ginger syrup* (see below)
0.25 oz Demerara syrup** (see below)
Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Seal and shake vigorously. Prime a tall collins glass with 2 oz of chilled club soda. Open tin and strain contents into the glass. Top with additional club soda, add two dashes of Angostura bitters and a lime wedge.
*Ginger syrup: heat 1 part fresh ginger juice with 1 part Demerara sugar, and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.
** Demerara syrup: heat 2 parts Demerara sugar with 1 part warm water, and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.
