The following is an excerpt from The Maison Premiere Almanac by Joshua Boissy, Krystof Zizka and Jordan Mackay with William Elliot. Maison Premiere is a cocktail bar located in New York City.
Tall, glistening with crushed ice, and in brilliant shades of red, white, and blue, this unique cocktail is perfect for summer in the back garden. We promote it on American holidays of note—Derby Day(!), Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day—when we festoon the bar with antique American flags and hire an old-timey brass band for live music. The whole place looks straight out of a 1940s film.
As for the drink, blue curaçao is of course not taken seriously by cocktail revivalists. But, Jesse, the bartender who created this drink, and Maxwell Britten weren’t aiming for gravitas, instead desiring to maximize the patriotic visual effect, which they did. Along the way, they realized you could use any clear spirit in the drink you want, and it works. So, as with the toddy, customers call their spirit. We don’t keep it on the menu for long, but it’s always popular when we revive it.
USS Bomber Cocktail Recipe
By Joshua Boissy, Krystof Zizka and Jordan Mackay with William Elliot
Ingredients
- 1 ounce coconut milk
- 1 ounce lemon juice
- ¼ ounce Suze gentian liqueur
- 1 ounce clear spirit of choice, such as vodka, gin, or rum
- ¾ ounce blue curaçao Peychaud’s bitters
- 3 pineapple leaves, 1 red-and-white-striped straw, for garnish
Instructions
Build all ingredients except for the blue curaçao and the bitters in a tall pilsner glass filled with crushed ice. Swizzle gently to combine. Carefully pour the curaçao so that it sits on top, and then, using a barspoon, gently nudge the ice to work the curaçao down until it forms a layer above the original drink. Now top with crushed ice and dash the Peychaud’s bitters on top to form the red layer. Garnish with the pineapple leaves and the straw.
Last Updated: June 27, 2023
