My friend, Evan Bucholz, over at Brix & Rye in Greenport on the North Fork makes a cocktail that my husband, Danloves: the Backsliding Presbyterian. Awesome moniker notwithstanding, it’s a lightened-up whiskey drink when you want something that’s refreshing but also… interesting. More than just a highball or some other version of whiskey and soda.
In it, Bucholz brings together bourbon, Campari, fresh lime, homemade ginger syrup. All of this is combined over ice in a nice, ample pint glass, shaken and then topped with club soda. If we don’t go out on a Friday night, Dan, often asks if I can whip one up for him, as he did this past Friday.
Now, I love the Backsliding Presbyterian (I love any drink Bucholz makes; no lie), but last Friday I wasn’t quite in the mood for that format. The ingredients, though — especially the ginger syrup, to which I also add some lime juice because I like the lime-rickey-ish result of that combo — were jibing with my mood, I just wanted something served up, not over ice, and a little more direct in the way the flavors would hit my tongue. It had been a week, and I wanted something that would snap my attention right to Friday night, and maybe make me feel a little bit like I was on vacation.
I opened our liquor cabinet and my eyes fell on a bottle of Goslings Black Seal rum. Rum, lime, ginger — that all made sense, but I knew it would maybe be a little too tropical-fruity. The Campari was the ringer, adding this just-right hit of sly, subtle bitterness that plays to the molasses-base of the Goslings.
It worked, in all the ways I suspected it might, but so many good drinks start somewhere else. Maybe all good drinks. Instead of putting recipes in tight categories, sometimes it’s fun to bridge the gaps between them, thinking about how flavors may actually work well together — and thinking outside the shaker.
(Don’t) Burn Bridges
Ingredients
For the cocktail:
- 1 1/2 oz Goslings Black Seal rum
- 1/2 oz Campari
- 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz ginger-lime syrup
- 1 lime twist
For the ginger-lime syrup
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 2-inch nub fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
Directions
For the cocktail:
- In a shaker filled with ice, add in the rum, Campari, lime juice and ginger-lime syrup.
- Shake until cold, about 10 seconds.
- Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a lime twist. Cheers!
For the ginger-lime syrup:
- In a small pot, combine the sugar, water, lime juice and sliced ginger.
- Cook over medium heat, allowing the mixture to gently simmer, for about 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool and strain into an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
