Bartender Gillian Georges may have started out as an East Hamptonite, but her work took a cross-country tour before coming full circle to the East End. “I love it out here,” she says from her new perch as head bartender for the Pridwin Hotel in Shelter Island. “I’ve worked all over the country, and these are the people I really want to showcase everything I’ve learned and experienced for. It’s amazing the Pridwin has given me this platform to show-off everything I can do.”
Which is quite a lot. Georges, who started her career as a chef working for the venerable José Andrés, was lured to the bar side of things by the creativity and beauty involved in combining fresh ingredients into cocktails. This summer, she’ll be taking that locapour concept right to the Pridwin’s grounds, growing some of her own ingredients in her own drinks-forward garden.
“How I make my cocktails is very chef-driven and definitely very fresh. With my ingredients, everything is in season. That’s where I’m coming from!” says Georges. “That will be part of what I’ll be making up in the Crescent Bar, and also in the poolside tiki bar, which is a resort boat cocktail concept — tropical fruit, Swizzles and a lot of garnish. It’s all about the fun and a little bit dreamy nostalgia for summer here.”
So why the formal-sounding High Tea? All those fresh botanicals, of course. “I was thinking about brunch and doing these amazing tea-centric drinks. The Nonino has amazing sweet-herb notes and makes a great partner with the pretty, floral chamomile.”
High Tea
Ingredients
- 2 oz Tito's vodka
- 1/2 oz Amaro Nonino
- 1 oz chamomile syrup
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 lemon peel
For the chamomile syrup
- 1 tbsp loose, dried chamomile flowers
- 10 oz water
- 10 oz white cane sugar
Directions
- Combine the vodka, amaro, syrup and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake well for 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with the lemon peel. Cheers!
Chamomile syrup:
- Heat the water in a small pot to boiling.
- Turn off the heat and add in the chamomile flowers. Steep for 15 minutes.
- Turn the heat back on to medium-high heat. Add in the sugar and simmer until sugar is dissolved and the liquid becomes syrupy, about 10 more minutes.
.
