Updating three classic Brunch cocktails

This Sunday is Easter, and this week is Passover (April 1 through 9). They don’t always line up, but when they do, it means brunch season can’t be far behind. Brunch season kicks off with the big two: Easter and Mother’s Day. Father’s Day is a distant third, although still worthy of some consideration.

These first two holidays (holy days) often revolve around alcohol. There are the five cups of wine for Seder, and, of course, wine for Easter communion, so it seems somewhat odd that when brunch season comes, nobody volunteers any wine pairings — at least not seriously.

Maybe that’s because brunch is all about cocktails. And nobody is going to chisel in on the holy trinity of day drinking: the Ramos fizz, the mimosa and the bloody mary. But like many cocktails, people often go about prioritizing their manufacture backward.

So, since spring has already sprung, brace yourself for something new. We are not talking about reinventing the wheel but just adding a few subtle tweaks. Instead of egg whites and orange flower water in our Ramos fizz, we use orange juice and whole eggs. Instead of orange juice in a mimosa, we substitute tangerine juice. And for our bloody mary, we add just a touch of balsamic and a dash of umami.

You’re welcome in advance!

Have a happy holiday!

Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars: The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II,” the host of the Barfly Podcast on iTunes (as seen in the NY Times) and an award-winning bartender at a local restaurant. Follow him at jeffburkhart.net and contact him at jeffbarflyIJ@outlook.com

Recipes

Ramos Fizz

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces Sausalito Liquor Co. Marin Coastal Gin

¾ ounce heavy cream or heavy cream substitute

¼ ounce fresh-squeezed orange juice

½ ounce simple syrup

1 egg

Fresh grated nutmeg

1 quarter orange wheel (pie slice-shaped piece)

Directions

Crack the egg and place it in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Dry shake until foamy and then add gin, cream, orange juice and simple syrup. Dry shake again and then add ice. Shake once or twice more and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float the orange on top and grate nutmeg over the whole drink.

Pro tip: We used to make this version at the old Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur. Typically, adding a whole egg to a Ramos fizz makes it a “golden” fizz. We found that whole eggs and fresh OJ, along with heavy cream, which isn’t in a golden fizz, give this drink a much richer flavor as well as a wonderful golden hue.

Tangerine Mimosa

Ingredients

4 ounces Francis Ford Coppola Winery Diamond Collection Prosecco

1 ¼ ounce fresh-squeezed chilled tangerine juice

¼ ounce Hanson of Sonoma Mandarin Vodka

1 orange zest

Directions

In a cocktail beaker, combine vodka, prosecco and tangerine juice. Stir until foam subsides and then pour into a chilled champagne glass (flute or coupe) and then garnish with the strip of orange zest.

Pro tip: Tangerine juice or clementine juice is sweeter and less acidic than orange juice. When combined with a typically “dry” high-acid sparkling wine, such as prosecco, the combination of sweet and dry is sublime and much more balanced — the vodka helps, too. Remember to always mix mimosas first in a mixing glass before pouring into the serving glass. Fresh citrus juice and sparkling wine is a very volatile and foamy combination; it’s best to try and control it in a glass other than the serving one.

Bloody Mary

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces Alamere Spirits Espelette Chili Vodka

4 ounces chilled organic tomato juice

¼ ounce balsamic glaze

¼ ounce Sol Food Pique Sauce

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Pinch of ground celery seed

Pinch of umami seasoning

1 pickled green bean

1 lemon wedge

Directions

In the serving glass, combine all liquid ingredients and all the spices. Stir until well combined and then add ice. Squeeze the lemon and then drop into the mixture. Garnish with the green bean.

Pro tip: Umami is the fifth “taste,” and it’s more of a sensation than anything else. MSG, a manufactured “salt,” will provide umami, but so will all-natural glutamine seasonings without the added sodium. Balsamic vinegar is an interesting substitution for Worcestershire sauce — essentially a black vinegar — but I have found that balsamic glazes are more consistent than many balsamic vinegars in regard to the sweet-sour balance. The Pique works well in place of Tabasco (essentially a chile vinegar) and will add the necessary vinegar zip as well as the perfect bit of “localized” spicy bite.