Cocktail of the Week – Staten Island

Staten Island

With the Staten Island my mixologist’s tour of New York City’s boroughs comes to an end. I’ve already “been” to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx and now that here we are at Staten Island I’m regretting it. I should have ended this series with the Manhattan or the Bronx. Really, anything but Staten Island, because this cocktail is a disappointment. (Friends in the know tell me that the ACTUAL Staten Island is also a disappointment so maybe this drink is true to its namesake.) It’s just a shame to end this series on a bad note.

Staten Island
The ingredients

Staten Island

  • 1 part coconut liqueur
  • 1 part pineapple juice

Stir together ingredients. Pour over ice into a highball glass.

Staten Island

I don’t know if there is much to say about this cocktail. It’s like a Piña Colada without requiring any of the special materials or tools that cocktails requires. a It’s sweet, cloyingly so and it tastes like coconut and pineapple. Depending on the size of your highball glass it is could also end up being very, very boozy. That’s about it really.

I wish there was more to say about the drink. I wish it was as enjoyable to drink as the Bronx or the Brooklyn, or ever the Queens. Comparing the Staten to the Manhattan would be too great an insult to the latter so I’m not going to. Staten Island might not be the best borough but it certainly deserves better than this…

Staten Island

Cocktail of the Week – Queens

Queens

I continue working my way through New York City’s borough’s this week (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island) with the Queens’ cocktail. The Queens most resembles a Perfect Martini, a martini with equal part of dry and sweet vermouth, that has had pineapple juice added to it. If you’ve been following the Burroughs cocktail you’ll also know that this cocktail is nearly identical to the Bronx, which happens to also be more popular as a cocktail, except having pineapple instead of orange juice.

Queens
The ingredients

Queens

  • 1 oz. gin
  • 1 oz. dry vermouth
  • 1 oz. sweet vermouth
  • 1 oz. pineapple juice

Fill shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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The Queens is a perfectly cromulent cocktail. Especially if you’re a fan of gin or pineapple… There really isn’t anything that makes it stick out though. It’s enjoyable but isn’t memorable enough that’d you’d order it at the bar. Or maybe it’s just unfair to compare it to the Manhattan? Probably unfair to compare most cocktails to the Manhattan. I do think some small changes would go a long way in making the cocktail more enjoyable the first among them are a little lemon juice and an egg white. The lemon juice would brighten the cocktail and add some depth to the drink and the egg white would make it silky smooth going down…

Queens

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