Cheers! Watch-Inspired Summer Cocktails

Before I started my career as a journalist, I was a bartender (and I like to think, a pretty good one). As such, I can tell you that, with very few exceptions, there hasn’t been a wholly “new” cocktail invented since about 1947; the edgy drink fads we enjoy today are essentially riffs on tried-and-true combinations with proven track records that satisfy.

However, I can also tell you that, as a former bartender, I continue to experiment with my home bar, flexing and adapting drink recipes with different ingredients. And I think I’ve been generally successful. That is why I eagerly accepted the challenge to create a few refreshing summer drinks reflective of specific watchmakers and their home countries.

Try one or two of these out yourselves; you won’t be sorry, and they may open up your preferred cocktail menu with some intriguing twists!

Given that today is Swiss National Day, I decided to kick things off by pairing the most globally recognized Swiss watchmaker, Rolex, with a martini, the world’s most ubiquitous drink order; however, this proved to be something of a challenge. After all, how do you make a martini that is inherently Swiss?

The secret is substituting the traditional dry vermouth with the little-known apéritif Génépi. While the best versions are distilled in France, the herbal flavor notes of this potion are distinctly Alpine. It has been compared to other sweetly herbal concoctions like Chartreuse, but is more complex and less cloying, and traditionally presents with a pleasing pale yellow color.

To let those flavors sing, I am committing the martini-crime of recommending more neutral vodka as the cocktail’s base over gin. Also, a lemon twist garnish will suffice here, as strong olive flavors would conflict with the Génépi’s refreshing herbal goodness.
 

Ingredients

•  2.5 oz of the vodka of your choice
•  1 oz of Génépi (you’ll want this “wetter” version to fully enjoy the unique flavors)
•  Lemon twist garnish

How To: Pour the vodka and Génépi into an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Cap it off and shake vigorously; then shake it some more (hey, vodka doesn’t “bruise” and some ice “shrapnel” is more than welcome). Strain into a chilled martini glass; twist the lemon skin and drop it in. Assume a customary reflective, contemplative bar stance and bend your elbow.

This is a riff on the cocktail I created for the opening of the Campari-centric bar of the Casa Panerai boutique in New York City. That drink was itself a riff on a Perfect Manhattan, swapping in the flavors of the intensely red, fruit-derived aperitif for traditional sweet vermouth.

For this version, I have made the quaff even more Italian and sweeter with the addition of the mystical amaro (a traditional Italian bittersweet herbal liqueur) called Sfumato. If you can believe it, this potion’s sweetly smoky flavor profile is thanks to the use of Chinese rhubarb root as one of its main constituents! The smoke plays very nicely with the Campari’s bittersweet blast and the rye whiskey’s bite. Andiamo!
 

Ingredients

•  2 oz of the rye whiskey of your choice
•  0.5 oz of Campari
•  0.5 oz of Amaro Sfumato
•  A dash or two of Angostura bitters
•  Real “brandied” maraschino cherry for garnish

How To: Pour the rye, Campari, and Sfumato into an ice-filled cocktail mixer. Give it a healthy round of the shakes. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Add the bitters, then dead-drop the cherry into the glass so the bitters and maraschino juice get down into the drink a bit. Envision a sunset on the Amalfi Coast as you take your first sip.

While this cocktail’s name may invoke expectations that one of Germany’s most popular bar pours will be in the glass, I’ve never successfully used Jägermeister in a cocktail recipe, as its overpowering nature never quite manages to blend with other flavors, thus making it a poor choice for this ode to the delicate work of the Saxony-based A. Lange & Söhne.

It’s a little-known fact that Germany is one of the world’s finest distillers of so-called “wheat whiskey,” which is whiskey distilled 100% from the grain, or whiskeys that use a preponderance of wheat (over rye or barley) in the formula.

Either way, a good wheat whiskey presents a softer, smoother taste to the tongue than the typical brown stuff. With a hit of the German honey-derived liqueur Bärenjäger, this sweeter take on a straightforward “scotch and soda” is elevated, elegant, and Teutonically efficient.
 

Ingredients

•  2 oz of German “wheat whiskey”
•  0.5 oz of Bärenjäger
•  Club soda to fill the glass
•  Lemon or lime garnish (if you must)

How To: Pour the whiskey and Bärenjäger into a highball glass with 3 or 4 cubes of fresh ice. Add the club soda to fill the glass. Let the bubbles die down and give it a spin or two with a cocktail swizzler. A fruit garnish isn’t verboten, but it might be unnecessary.

I am a big, big fan of Japan’s particular take on lighter, crisper whiskies. But for a summer drink honoring Seiko, one of the country’s top watchmakers, using the quintessential Japanese spirit sake seems like a natural move.

Low-alcohol by nature (typically 15% to 16%; thus, “rice wine” is a misnomer as it is way more powerful), sake presents a refreshing, complex, naturally umami-flecked profile that still brings some potency bang to a cocktail’s buck.

Full confession: When I bartended, I hated making mojitos (just too much labor for minimal payoff). That said, this “Sake-jito,” which is a light, fruity riff on the Cuban-invented minty drink, is well worth the effort.
 

Ingredients

•  3 oz of Japanese sake (as you are mixing this, top-shelf sake is not required)
•  0.5 oz of fresh lime juice
•  0.5 oz of fresh lemon juice
•  0.5 oz of simple syrup (boil equal parts sugar and water and let cool)
•  A small handful of fresh mint leaves (at least 6)
•  Some kind of exotic Asian fruit garnish (yuzu, jackfruit, pomelo, dragon fruit…just avoid the smelly durian)

Hot To: Prepare and chill your simple syrup and squeeze your citrus juices. Place the mint, juices, and simple syrup into an empty cocktail shaker. Gently mash/muddle the mixture to release the mint’s oils (an official bar muddler looks like a small wooden baseball bat, but a wooden spoon will work in a pinch). Pour the sake into the shaker, and then fill with ice. Shake it up.

Pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass (including a cube or two of the “lucky” ice from the shaker, which keeps it colder longer without withering the drink too much). Garnish with your bragging-rights Asian fruit slice.

(Front image © Campari)