We absolutely love the change of seasons, and not for all the obvious reasons. We crave the new menus chefs roll out, and now in this fresh era of great cocktails we are now seeing barmen offering new cocktails to pair with the seasons. A few nights ago we caught wind of just such a new menu at Marquee, located in Highland Park Village, where we found manager Jason Kosmas affixing last minute adjustments to his new bar menu that quietly was installed just yesterday.
“Basically we re-worked our cocktail menu for the Fall season. We are switching up the format a bit and expanding the amount of cocktails we offer. The first page of the menu you will find pre-dinner or aperitif cocktails. You will find them a little bit more boozy, a little bit more layered and spirit-driven, explained Kosmas.
Yellow Jacket
“One we have seen before is the JT Manhattan. It is sort of our mainstay at Marquee so we are staying with that one. It has Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey, sweet vermouth, dashes of bitters and a spot of Gran Marnier, served up in a cocktail glass with a lemon twist. This is a variation of the modern Manhattan and actually one of the first recipes found,” said Kosmas.
JT Manhattan
With the change of weather we are finding more flavors of the seasons in the drinks. Now that it is a bit colder it is fun to see the flavors come out in our drinks that reflect that time. This is when we see the lighter spirits such as gin taking a back seat, and darker liquors such as Maker’s Mark sitting up front on the bar’s line up.
“We are definitely going to see more spiciness in cocktails in general. In terms for the Fall season we will see things that are a bit more richer.”
A few of our favorites we tried that evening included the “Dire Straights” made with Macallan 12 Year, fig and vanilla bitters along with Allspice Dram. The scotch was the predominate flavoring but the bitters tempered the strong taste for a smooth cocktail. Often scotch cocktails leave you scratching wondering why the barman didn’t just settle with a nice glass of the spirit and a simple ice cube.
We are actually looking forward to spending a brunch with our new friend, the Bloody Marquee, made with Tito’s Vodka with tomato juice, worcestershire, roasted pineapple and chile juice.
Where as we appreciated all the Summer-long fruit forward cocktails, the new Spring line up is more with our taste and liking and gladly welcome each cocktail into the fold.