For many of us, sherry is the thing that collects dust in our cooking cabinet between its infrequent uses making soup and the like. Not for Jason Asher. The Barter & Shake Hospitality honcho and barman behind UnderTow and Century Grand is something of a sherry evangelist, deploying the Spanish fortified wine frequently in his ongoing guerrilla campaign against booze illiteracy.
Consider this sweet little concoction, Honest Day’s Wage. Based on the classic flip – a mixed drink created by 17th-century sailors, in which a mixture of beer, rum and sugar was brought to froth by a hot iron and sipped to ward off high seas chills – the nog-like cocktail combines spicy Lustau East India sherry with house-made carrot cake syrup and a generous pour of bourbon.
To earn your Wage at home, combine ½ oz. carrot cake syrup*, 1 whole egg, ½ oz. Lustau East India sherry, ½ oz. Averna Amaro and 1 ½ oz. Russell’s Reserve 10 Year bourbon in a mixer and shake with ice. Strain into a coupe and garnish with nutmeg and Maldon salt. Asher elects to serve it with a sidebar of Lustau East India, to accelerate your sherry learning curve.
* Values have been generalized for laymen mixologists. Heat 1 quart water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 1 quart brown sugar, 1 cup of golden raisins, 1 shake of allspice, 2 shakes each of cinnamon and nutmeg and ½ cup of grated carrots. Stir and infuse 24 hours in a sealed container. Strain and refrigerate.
$16
Century Grand
3626 E. Indian School Rd., Phoenix
centurygrandphx.com
