Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails – Boston

Recent thoughts from LUPEC Boston, in case you missed ’em in this week’s Dig.

by Pink Lady + Contessa

We extolled the virtues of Clio/Uni‘s secret/awesome cocktail program a few weeks ago in our hotel bar roundup. Little did we know that barman Todd Maul was developing a brand new cocktail menu, unveiled earlier this month. Weighing in with 80-plus libations, the ambitious menu rivals any other craft cocktail bastion’s and evokes the legendary “long list” at one of our other favorite watering holes, Green Street. How long will it take us to drink our way through this menu? Don’t tempt us.

The slim but potent, elegantly designed volume is cinched with a gold silk cord. Drinks run the gamut, from aperitifs ($9) to drinks for two ($25) to tiki drinks & daiquiris ($13), and feature a blend of pre-Prohibition and modern classics. Gin gets its own section, as does whiskey & cognac, with several pages of “other stuff” sandwiched between and “the stuff that didn’t fit anywhere else” on the last page (these will all run you $13). Old-school spirits ads are sprinkled throughout, like in our cherished vintage cocktail books; the effect as you leaf through it is more akin to reading a retro recipe pamphlet than selecting a beverage at a Back Bay bar.

On a recent outing, LUPEC emeritus Contessa was delighted to find drinks built around a house-made orange gin created with Seville oranges and Old Tom as base. She liked the Flying Dutchman, which mixes orange gin with orange juice, lemon and bitters, and pairs perfectly with rock shrimp and fish tacos. (Fish tacos at Clio? Who knew? And yes, they’re spectacular.) Maul assures us that many of these beverages (like the trendy tiki drinks) were designed with Uni’s raw seafood offerings in mind.

For a drink you won’t have to duck into the Clio bar to sample, we suggest an original that debuted on the new list, the Southern Beaches. Maul considers cachaça an under-utilized spirit, often relegated to caipirinhas and … well, that’s it. He puts it to work in a classic tiki formula here.

But seriously: How long do you think it will take us to drink our way through the list?

SOUTHERN BEACHES

1.5 oz Beija cachaça
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.25 oz Oloroso sherry
0.25 oz Orgeat
0.25 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur

Shake ingredients with ice; strain over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange slice, a lime twist and ground allspice.

CIN-CIN!

FOR MORE GREAT COCKTAIL RECIPES, VISIT LUPECBOSTON.COM.

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