My book Prosecco Made Me Do It (Andrews McMeel) was a super fun rollick through the inexhaustible world of Prosecco-centric cocktails, some classics, some I created from a whole bunch of years writing about, well, booze.
The book, with some great illustrations by the wonderful Ruby Taylor, wasn’t just made from a desk with a little R&D on the side. I made my way to the Veneto region of Italy and visited the vast vineland of both the predominantly valley-based DOC and dizzyingly steep sub-Alpine slopes of the DOCG where vines are planted in vertigo-giving hillsides that make you realize there’s a lot more to Prosecco than bottomless brunches.
I cover all this in the beginning of the book, along with Prosecco-cocktail making tips. The biggest one: pay attention to the sweetness level of your bubbly. There’s a wild misconception out there that Prosecco is sweet. It can be, but it can also be bone dry and the way to tell that is to learn a little about the language that appears on any given bottle. A good rule of thumb is to look for the words brut or extra brut is you want a dry-style. If you want to add a little sweetness into your cocktail (a clever thing to think on because it can take the place of adding other modifiers, like simple syrup or agave), look for words like dry and extra dry — I know, I know, it makes no sense! But those words, confusing though they may be, indicate unequivocally that there has been a certain amount of residual sugar added to your sparkler — which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the style of that particular bottle and needs to be taken into consideration when mixing or sipping.
There’s more to learn, but today? Let’s just make a fun drink to kick off Friday. I created this one to employ a sweeter-style Prosecco in the mix, playing on the vanilla-kissed nature of both the Jamaican rum (the ship) and Cognac (the shore) here. Hit up your favorite local liquor store for a bottle of rich, tropical Jamaican rum (I happened to like Appleton, and I also happen to like Hampton Wine Shoppe in Westhampton Beach and Churchill Wines & Spirits in Bridgehampton — you do the math). Cheers, dears!
Ship to Shore
Ingredients
- 1 oz Jamaican rum
- 1/2 oz Cognac
- 1/2 oz tawny Port
- 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1 barspoon orange Curaçao
- 1/4 oz simple syrup
- 1 dash habañero bitters
- 1 oz extra dry-style Prosecco
Directions
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the rum, Cognac, Port, lemon juice, Curaçao, simple syrup and bitters.
- Shake well, for about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or martini glass. Top with Prosecco. Cheers!
