"The Geri Halliwell" Festive & Refreshing Holiday Cocktail
It’s kind of wild to look back at the last few years and think about how much our lives have changed in that time. Just a few years ago I was working long as hell hours in the service industry, waiting tables at one French Quarter restaurant and bartending at another. Beau and I barely saw each other compared to now—he worked in the day time and I worked at night, and if I was lucky enough to have two days off in a week they were rarely back to back. I enjoyed the work, but it was pretty hard to have any time for friends, family, or Beau. Oh my god I’m getting sappy and grateful. It’s the holidays.
I guess it’s all been on my mind lately because we recently had a chance to chat with Levi Chambers on his podcast Pride—and he asked us about how we met and how we got started writing this blog. And we got to share this recipe! We’ll update this post with the link once the podcast featuring us is up [EDIT: It’s up, click here], but we wanted to get this recipe up for ya ASAP because it’s such a good Christmas-time cocktail for anyone who loves festive drinks but needs something more crisp and refreshing.
This is one that I developed while bartending at Meauxbar in New Orleans a few years ago. The idea was to take fall/winter flavors but deliver them in a light and refreshing cocktail. It’s common for New Orleans to still be pretty warm even well into December, so while a warm boozy stiff drink might be what the rest of the country is drinking, I’m not trying to sweat! But I still want to join in the warm spice fun. So I made a solution!
The base of the cocktail is Calvados, which is definitely not a household name so if you’ve never heard of it you’re not alone! Calvados is a French apple brandy, and you can usually find it at a specialty liquor store. If you can’t find Calvados, American apple brandy like Laird’s Apple Jack could be a good substitute, and if you can’t find that, give it a try with regular brandy or Cognac—it’ll probably still be good. Along with the Calvados, we’re mixing in Becherovka (a Czech liqueur that has heavy notes of clove), some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and a super easy homemade cinnamon simple syrup. Lots of delicious warm spice flavor delivered in a pretty dang refreshing way. And just because it felt appropriate and I can, I named it after my favorite Spice Girl.
Geri Halliwell
For the cinnamon simple syrup
2 cups water
4 cinnamon sticks
1.5 cups turbinado sugar
Bring the water and cinnamon sticks to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks and return to a boil. Add turbinado sugar and mix until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature before using in cocktails or storing. Use as needed and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. (Do not refrigerate hot syrup, as cooling it too quickly could cause it to crystallize.)
For the Cocktail
1.5 oz Calvados
0.75 oz Becherovka
0.25 oz cinnamon simple syrup (recipe above)
.5 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
cinnamon stick or orange twist for garnish (optional)
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake 15-20 seconds, until shaking tin has frosted over. Strain over fresh ice in an Old Fashioned glass if serving on the rocks, or strain into a coupe glass if serving up. Garnish with cinnamon stick or orange twist if you prefer.
Thanks for stopping by the blog, and if you give this recipe a try let us know by tagging us on Instagram @probablythis !!
xoxo Matt