St. Patrick's Day Four Leaf Rose

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Recipe and photo shared by Bar Dupont, Dupont Circle Hotel

For those who seek a more sophisticated alternative to St. Patrick's Day celebrations, you can soak in Irish culture at Irish-owned Bar Dupont and Café Dupont at the Dupont Circle Hotel. Both the bar and café are offering up holiday specials all day from Friday, March 17 – Sunday, March 19, with live music at Bar Dupont Friday 3-10 p.m. and Saturday 3-7 p.m.

Bar Dupont’s special cocktail menu is inspired by Irish heritage with a little D.C. flair. Bar Dupont shared one of their classic Irish cocktails with us to help celebrate this St. Patrick's Day.   

The Four Leaf Rose Cocktail

A twist on the classic Jack Rose Cocktail, a classic American concoction made up of Laird’s Applejack Brandy, the mixologists at Bar Dupont created the Four Leaf Irish Rose. Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey seamlessly mixes with Laird’s, an American spirit, just as Bar Dupont has done for years in Washington, DC.

Ingredients:

  • 1.0 Tullamore Dew
  • 1.0 Laird’s Applejack
  • .75 Lime
  • .50 Jack Rudy Grenadine
  • Shake
  • Coupe
  • Lime wheel

Steps:

Start by chilling your coupe glass. Build the cocktail in a mixing glass and shake. Strain ingredients into coupe. Add a lime wheel.

How to Make a Festive Ice Ring for Your Holiday Punch

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by Occasions Caterers 

We recently celebrated the opening of the newest location of Salt & Sundry (1625 14th St NW) -- you may be wondering, "don't they already have a 14th st location?". Their 1401 S St location has been converted into an adorable plant based store called, The Little Leaf. As we were perusing the new store finding gifts for the holidays like True Syrups tonic and the Hartwood cookbook we loved the festive ice ring in the self-service punch.

Hosting during the holidays can be stressful and a self-service bar station is a genius way to do prep and free up your time. So we reached out to Occasions Caterers, who made this punch set-up above to get the tips on this easy do-it-yourself hack. 

You essentially fill a bundt mold with filtered water + a fresh juice  and any fruits and garnishes you’d like for the punch and let it sit in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours. The longer the better. Obviously sliced fruit and fresh herbs work great but whole spices and edible flowers are also good options too. Juices change the color of the ice and help to not dilute the punch! Very important! 

Pro tip: run warm water along the outside of the pan to help loosen the ice mold. It should then come out easily for you to slip into the punch.

The Alexis- Don Ciccio & Figli

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By Jeremy Bowers

Looking for a distinctive and bitter ingredient for your short winter cocktails? The Tuscan green walnut liqueur nocino (no-CHEE-no) might be for you. Nocino is traditionally spiced with cinnamon and clove, two flavors that pair well with the holiday season. The walnuts are picked in the summer and macerated until January, when they are bottled and left to rest until March.  

Francesco Amodeo of DC distiller Don Ciccio & Figli’s says his nocino recipe was first recorded by his grandfather in 1931. His grandmother perfected it years later and it’s her recipe they use today. 

Amodeo sources unripe walnuts from a farm in California. In late June, he splits and macerates the soft green walnuts in a neutral grain spirit. Cinnamon, cloves and other spices are added in September. The spirit rests “until it is ready,” according to Amodeo, and they bottle it by January. He prefers to use as little sugar as possible, because he likes to “let the walnuts speak for themselves.” Don Ciccio & Figli serve The Alexis at their tasting room / bar at 6301 Kansas Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20011. Only 520 cases were produced this year. Available in March 2017 at their tasting room (Saturdays, 1–6pm) or online. http://donciccioefigli.com/nocino/  

The Alexis

  • 1 ounce bourbon 
  • 1 ounce Don Ciccio & Figli Nocino 
  • 1 ounce Don Ciccio & Figli Amaro delle Sirene 
  • 2 dashes orange bitters 
  • 1 orange peel, twisted

Stir the liquors together with ice. Pour into a coupe; splash the bitters; add the orange twist.