When it comes to holiday songs, most of us can’t resist the straight-up Auld Lang Syne classics, or at least riffs on them. I kind of feel like that about cocktails as well. And even though she’s hands-down one
of the most creative, intuitive slingers on the East End, Gillian Georges seems to also get a little sentimental this time of year, too.
And if that drink can be the final coda on a beautiful, wintry meal, all the better.
“I definitely wanted to do a cocktail here at Léon that was more dessert-forward; something to end the meal for people who don’t necessarily want a full dessert, and to have it in drink form,” she says.
The answer: a mash-up of the classic drinks, the Brandy Alexander and Espresso Martini.
Georges has been the beverage director at Shelter Island’s Léon for four years, and it’s here she’s found the kind of ingredient-focused creative freedom and culinary collaborations with chef Armond Joseph that have allowed her to stretch and explore.
“I think what’s really cool about this bar program is I am, first of all, not boxed into a certain category of cocktail. What’s nice here is it’s all four-seasons of cocktails! And I’m able to work in the theme of the restaurant, which is what’s great at the farm? In the water? At the local dairy?” she says.
In this holiday-inspired sipper, New York-sourced cream creates the cocktail’s velvety crown and her own in-house vanilla-bean extract adds a rich, decadent note that plays well with the espresso and aged tequila.
“It’s a nice textural balance, with the cold creaminess of the shaken cream and the boozy hit of the tequila and Licor 43,” she says. The latter ingredient—a Spanish liqueur with notes of orange peel and vanilla—adds balancing sweetness and richness that, along with the other ingredients, almost comes off as chocolatey, even though there’s not a trace of cacao in it.
“It’s one of those happy drinks where you get a milk mustache at the end.”
The Espresso Alexander
Serves 1 cocktail
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz Casamigos Reposado Tequila
- 3/4 oz Licor 43
- 3/4 oz brewed espresso, cooled
- vanilla cream
- grated nutmeg
For the vanilla cream
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- In a mixing glass with ice, combine the tequila, Licor 43 and espresso. Stir until well-chilled, about 10 to 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Top with vanilla cream and a sprinkling of grated nutmeg. Happy heady holidays!
For the vanilla cream
- Combine all ingredients and whip until thickened with a hand-held or standing mixer. Store in an air-tight container for up to a day.
