Gibson

In the early days of cocktails it seemed to be quite easy to invent one. Take the Gibson - the only difference between a Martini and a Gibson is that the olive is exchanged for an onion. It does have a nice little history though.

So the challenge of this cocktail is getting a good cocktail onion, and the best way is to make it yourself.

• 6 cl gin
• 2 cl dry vermouth
• 1 cocktail onion*

Stir everything with ice if you want a completely clear and translucent cocktail, strain into martini glass and garnish with cocktail onion.

* Homepickled cocktail onions

• 150 grams pearl onions (while you clean them be sure not to cut the entire bottom of, they will disintegrate while boiling)
• 3 dl white vinegar - I used a mixture of Japanese vinegar, champagne vinegar and white wine vinegar.
• 2 dl cold water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pickling spice, a tiny ear of star anise and a cardamom pod.
• 150 grams white sugar

Put everything in stainless steel pot, bring to boil and boil for 1 minute. Pour into clean glass and put in fridge. Ready to use after 24 hours, but gets better over time.

Sazerac

This cocktail is almost holy - at least in New Orleans - and I'm a bit awed a trying to mix it these 7.976 kilometers to the north-east of it's birthplace.

It's actually an Old Fashioned with a little something special.

• 7,5 cl rye whiskey
• Dash of Peychaud's bitters
• Dash of angostura bitters
• sugar cube
• rinse of absinte

In mixing glass but the bitters over the sugarcube and muddle, add the rye and muddle further until the sugar is dissolved.
The get a low ball glass and rinse it with a few drops of absinthe, add a couple of large ice cubes and pour cocktail into glass. Stir to make it cold and garish with a lemon twist.
This is the kind of cocktail than rounds a stress full day of perfectly or lends itself to a warm summer night on the patio after sunset.