At the revamped Merchants restaurant in a 118-year-old Nashville building, suspender-clad mixologists serve old-school drinks like this one from the mid-19th century.
Ingredients
1 Sugar cube
Angostura bitters
Sparkling wine
Lemon twist to garnish
Tools
Champagne flute
How to Mix
Put sugar cube in a champagne glass
Lightly sprinkle the sugar cube with Angostura bitters and pour in enough sparkling wine to fill the glass
This drink was a favorite of American expats during Prohibition. Prior to then it was known as the Milano-Torino, for the cities where its two main ingredients were first made: Milan (Campari) and Turin (sweet vermouth).
Hidetsugo Ueno currently uses the exquisite French Dolin rouge vermouth in his Negronis, but you may want to experiment with different sweet vermouthsâMartini & Rossi, Cinzano, Carpano Antica Formulaâor try a bittersweet one like Punt e Mes.
Daiquiris often mean frozen drinks flavored with commercial sour mix and cheap rum. Leo Robitschek loves introducing people to the real deal: âTheyâre shocked that three simple ingredients can create such a complex drink.â
When New Orleans bartender Chris McMillian mixes mint juleps at Bar UnCommon, he recites an ode, written in the 1890s by a Kentucky newspaperman, that calls the cocktail "the zenith of man's pleasureâ¦the very dream of drinks."