Luscious Labor of Love

While it's no secret how much I love writing about food, from the farmers who grow it to the cooks who put it front of us at our favorite restaurants to how to make it at home, I'm also crazy about beer, wine and cocktails and our local crew of brewers, winemakers and distillers. Here's a write-up I did for a recent issue of MIX magazine on David Shenaut, plus the recipe that didn't make it into the magazine. The perfect cooler for a summer gathering, it's simple, light and refreshing.

Acclaimed bartender David Shenaut has left the Irving Street Kitchen to work for the McMenamin's Zeus Café in the new Crystal Hotel downtown, where he's planning to shake things up with his signature Souracher cocktail. Named after a brilliant kitchen staffer he worked with at Brad Root’s eponymous restaurant in Camas, Washington, who liked to end his shift with a combination of lime juice, Campari and whiskey, Shenaut was intrigued enough to spend five years perfecting it. He describes it as “incredibly balanced and packed with flavor, with both masculine and feminine qualities.” I call it irresistible.

The Souracher

3/4 oz. Campari
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
3/4 oz. rye whiskey (100-proof)

3/4 oz. Carpano Antica
1/2 tsp. rich Demerara sugar syrup (2:1; no heat)
Spicy ginger beer
Ice cubes

Tools: shaker, strainer
Glass: Collins
Garnish: long lime peel

Shake first 5 ingredients with ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with an Ice spear or large ice cubes. Top with ginger beer and garnish.