Oh, here comes a train.
Welcome back, friends - it's Anders, and it is almost Valentine's Day.
So happy almost Valentine's Day.
This is a gin cocktail for gin haters out there.
This is a lovely cocktail for the lovers out there.
It is called the Juliet and Romeo - which I had when it first hit the streets.
I've made it for people and I stick to the original recipe because it is that good.
If you're new to the channel hit that subscribe button for more sips, tips, and recipes -
and let's go make the Juliet and Romeo. A Shakespearean cocktail.
To the bar.
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The Juliet and Romeo dates back all the way to 2007, and if you are not old enough to remember 2007,
you should not be watching these videos because this is a video about alcohol, so -
The Juliet and Romeo was created in 2007 for the grand opening of The Violet Hour here in Chicago.
The Violet Hour was kind of an incredible place. At that time, personally, I was going through this discovery of classic cocktails,
and along comes this kind of speak easy bar that you could go to and have some classic cocktails -
or original cocktails in this case, but they were well crafted drinks.
This drink was created by a gentleman called Toby Maloney.
For the longest time, I actually thought his name was TONY Maloney because it rhymes,
and I just thought that that would be a fun name - Tony Maloney. But it's not, it's TOBY Maloney.
From what I understand - he wanted to create a drink that people who
weren't that into gin would find really tasty. And that's exactly what it is because there are other
beautiful flavors that make it really tasty. Now, other bars have begun to make the Juliet and Romeo
and put that on their menus. At least here in the Chicago area. I am guilty of that.
Working behind the bar, I would occasionally make this drink because it's tasty and everybody always likes it that drinks it.
Now with this channel, I'm gonna try to push this out to a greater audience because Toby came up with a really nice drink.
It also pops up quite a bit around Valentine's Day.
The lovers, you know? But also - rose water is used in it, so it has a little touch of rose. Roses and love.
Now the booze.
For this cocktail, we're gonna need a London dry gin.
I believe the original recipe was Beefeater Gin, and I really like Beefeater Gin, actually, so -
We're also gonna need freshly squeezed lime juice,
simple syrup,
I'm sticking to the original recipe as Toby intended, so I'm using a 1:1.
Usually I do a semi-rich, but this is a straight simple syrup.
We're also going to need a little bit of cucumber, some mint - I've got a sprig of mint we're gonna use in the cocktail,
and one lonely little leaf here as a garnish.
Then we're gonna - oh! We're gonna need, um, this stuff here.
[glasses clanking]
Rose water, and we're gonna need Angostura Bitters. I put this in a dropper bottle because this is
going to be used as a garnish. We're also going to need a little salt.
Salt in a cocktail is really nice. It pulls out a lot of the flavors,
but in this case it's also going to help us break down the cucumber because we are going to muddle.
So, let's get this off to the side, and let's build.
We will be shaking this cocktail. This will be served up.
I'm serving it in a coupe. I've got it chilling in my freezer.
So do that.
We're gonna muddle, so into the smaller cheater tin, we're gonna want three slices of cucumber.
To that, a small pinch of salt.
Okay, now -
muddle.
Gonna just break up that cucumber. It doesn't take much.
You get kind of like this cucumber mush.
It's a technical term that we use in the bartending world.
Yep! 100% flavor.
Now I'm going to set this off to the side because I'm still going to build the cocktail in here.
I will add the ice in here. I like that because this measures out the appropriate amount of ice.
We're going to start with the gin Two ounces of the London dry gin.
To that, I'm gonna add three quarters of an ounce of the simple syrup,
three quarters of an ounce of the fresh lime juice -
I did the simple syrup first because the lime juice is gonna wash away any simple syrup that is stuck in the jigger.
Three drops of rose water. It doesn't sound like a whole lot, but you really don't need a whole lot.
A little bit goes a long way. What am I missing?
Ahh - yes! Mint!
A little sprig of mint. I like to give it a clap just to wake it up,
but we're gonna shake this all together, so not entirely necessary.
Let's add ice and shake. About 15 seconds.
Good and cold! I'm going to double strain this into my chilled coupe.
Now, this is going to come right to the top of my glass. Traditionally it was served with a little side car,
so you could certainly do that instead.
Pretty color. It's a pale green. Now we are gonna float that little piece of mint.
Give it a little tap, and carefully - ever so gently - right on top. We're not done!
We're gonna put one drop of rose water right on top of the mint leaf.
Now we'll get the nose of mint and rose. That's fun!
Now the Angostura Bitters. We're going to do three dots around the mint leaf. We got one, two, three!
They're like little drops. This is Juliet's "happy dagger." That was a Shakespearean reference for all of you theater folks.
The Juliet and Romeo! Cheers!
All right, Az, do you want to join me?
- Ah yes. - Cheers!
All right. What a beautiful color! I love the minty green color.
- Refreshing! Mmm - cucumbery, minty. - Do you get the cucumber more than the mint?
I think I get the cucumber more than I get the mint. I get the salt. It's a delight, really.
Is it salt-y, or just -
No, it's not salt-y. Probably because I know that it's in there.
Mmm
- What do you think? - I think that's a great cocktail.
What I find really interesting about his one
is we're using a London dry gin - pretty much the ginniest of gins,
but it really is subdued with all the cucumber,
the lime, the syrup, and the rose. - It really is.
So I do think that this is a nice introduction for gin.
Cheers to Toby Maloney for making this drink that is wonderful,
and I have never served this cocktail to somebody who has disliked it. So thank you, Toby.
Cheers to William Shakespeare for creating the characters of Juliet and Romeo that inspired the name of this cocktail.
- Cheers to Az - - Thanks.
for being here, and enjoying this cocktail with me.
- Happy Valentine's Day to YOU - to all of you. - Yeah.
Happy Valentine's Day, like and subscribe, we'll see you next time.
- Goodbye. - Goodbye.
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