The holiday season is known as a time of reflection and giving, and for its comfort food and festive mood, all of which Ella’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot tries to capture in an old-fashioned glass.
“The old-fashioned is one of my favorite cocktails,” says Chris Burke, bar manager at Ella’s in Huntington, known locally for its toasty wood-fired pizza and tasty seasonal craft cocktails. “It is simplicity at its finest and most elegant. It also lends itself to other flavors and has the ability to be broken down and remade. So this is our version of an autumnal old-fashioned. Flavors we associate with the holidays, nostalgic memories, and gatherings. It’s comfort food in a glass.”
The Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is made with bourbon, allspice liqueur, maple syrup, Angostura bitters, and walnut bitters.
“We take a three-year straight bourbon, and combine that with a grade A maple syrup that we cut with water to moderate the sweetness,” he says. “After that, we add an allspice liqueur that we make in house. We steep allspice, clove, brown sugar and two different kinds of rum to create a baking spice flavor. Black walnut bitters and Angostura bitters finish the process, and for the garnish, we torch an orange twist over the top, which gives it an almost French-toast flavor with the spice, maple and citrus.”
With a similar taste on the palate, Ella’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot checks all the boxes for old-fashioned or Manhattan drinkers.
“We’ve had great feedback and guest response on this cocktail,” he says. “It’s become one of our most popular offerings, and also leads people to understand that some of their favorite classic cocktails can have a spin on them and still retain their essence, or remind them of why they enjoyed it so much originally, while still putting a twist on an original cocktail.”
Ella’s is located at 364 New York Ave., Huntington. It can be reached at 631-350-1804. ellasny.com.
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