Since there's really no better accessory than a cocktail in your hand, each week brings you a tasty adult beverage from one of our favorite drinking establishments, complete with recipe.
This week: The Sugar Snap Southside at Sanctuary's Jade Bar.
Want to drink like a mobster? Sanctuary's Jade Bar has you covered with its Sugar Snap Southside, an updated version of Al Capone's go-to cocktail.
Jade Bar swaps out the traditional gin for a DIY sugar snap pea infused vodka - an interesting twist we're willing to let slide. On the other hand, the raw egg white thrown into the mix has us feeling a little more like Rocky Balboa than a modern gangster...
But who are we to tell Bombay Sapphire and GQ Magazine's Most Inspired Bartender of 2010 Jason Asher, the mixologist at Jade Bar, what to put in (or leave out of) our drink?
Skeptical? Yes. Game? Definitely. Alive? Click through to find out.
(Recipe after the jump.)
Sugar Snap Pea Vodka
1 L Vodka
3 cups Sugar snap peas, chopped
Add the peas to the vodka and set aside for two hours to infuse. Strain out the peas, and you're left with cloudy, tannic vodka.
Sugar Snap Southside
⅓ pint Mint leaves
2 oz. Sugar snap pea vodka (see infusion recipe below)
¾ oz. Lemon juice, fresh
¾ oz. Simple syrup
1 Egg white
Add all of the ingredients, in order, to a pint glass. Cover with a Boston Shaker and give the mixture one dry shake. Then add ice, and shake well for six to seven seconds. Double strain your cocktail into a chilled martini glass to ensure no ice or mint winds up in the drink. Garnish with a sugar snap pea, and serve!
You can breathe a sigh of relief: This concoction is killer, not deadly. It's fresh, minty, and, like a well-beaten egg, fluffy. Our main concern was keeping the foam off our upper lip with every sip.
"It gets a beautiful ½-inch to ¾-inch head on it," says Asher. "It's one of the best drinks on the menu."
Do you think Rocky would approve if we started each day with one of these and before a dramatic stair climb? We certainly hope so...
Check back tomorrow for a mixology lesson with Asher, including a video tutorial on how to make his ticket-to-GQ-fame Beet and Yuzu Gimlet and insider advice on mastering mixology at home.
