Iconic craft cocktails of Midcoast Maine
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When it comes to the art of the cocktail, Midcoast restaurants and bars are up to par with some of the craftiest mixology as you’ll ever see in a big city. Sometimes it will be about locally harvested ingredients and sometimes it’s just all about the imagination. Note: some of the bars and restaurants we interviewed are no longer in business, but you can still see how a particular cocktail is deconstructed. Click on the “Full Story” link to see how to make one on your own.
Camden Hike
Name: Camden Hike
Crafted by: Tom Laslavic, Natalie’s Bar & Restaurant, Camden
Characteristics: Locally produced Cold River vodka mixed with a puree of native blueberries, blackberries, black currents and a syrup of Maine wild flower honey.
Notable: Camden Hike was featured in the 2012 book, The American Cocktail.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Fromviandoux Flash
Name: Fromviandoux Flash
Crafted by: Mac McGaw, Fromviandoux, Camden
Characteristics: Vodka mixed with Lillet Blanc, an ounce of cucumber juice, a half-ounce of lemon juice, and a half-ounce of simple syrup.
Notable: The Fromviandoux Flash was created as a “one-off” for a cash mob after party. Cash is green and so, the drink had to be green as well.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Love Zombie
Name: Love Zombie
Crafted by: Mike Bumiller, FOG Bar & Cafe, Rockland
Characteristics: Made with rum, brown sugar and equal parts lime and lemon. The added passion fruit is actually the tart balance to the sweetness of the rums in the drink.
Notable: Made for Valentine’s Day, the special sugar garnish FOG’s pastry chef makes for this drink looks like a heart-shaped icicle.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Snow White's Poisoned Appletini
Name: Snow White's Poisoned Appletini
Crafted by: Shane Davis, The Slipway, Thomaston
Characteristics: Maker's Mark bourbon is muddled an apple, basil leaves, a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of raw or brown sugar and two dashes of bitters. After muddling, add Maine Root ginger beer.
Notable: It has an earthy, textured taste, coated with a graham cracker rim, perfect for autumn.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Cranberry Compass Rose
Name: Cranberry Compass Rose
Crafted by: Stacy Campbell, Archer’s On The Pier, Rockland
Characteristics: Made with fresh Maine cranberries, Hendrick’s Gin and St. Germaine liqueur. Added with a simple syrup made from boiled down cranberries from Moody Farm Cranberry Bog in Lincolnville, just after peak harvest season.
Notable: Another wonderful autumn or holiday drink with juices and simply syrups all made from scratch
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Death In The Afternoon
Name: Death In The Afternoon
Crafted by: Jon Poto, The Gothic, Belfast
Characteristics: Made with absinthe and Cointreau, topped with Cava or sparking wine.
Notable: The cocktail was inspired by Ernest Hemingway, who wrote a 1932 nonfiction book of the same title.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Armageddon
Name: Armageddon
Crafted by: Colleen Wellman, The Smokestack Grill, Camden.
Characteristics: Designed for a maximum sweetness, this drink includes Raspberry vodka, Souther Comfort, and Peach Schnapps topped with equal parts cranberry juice and orange juice.
Notable: Made especially for their “End of the World” party, the end result is a persimmon-colored drink that tastes like a Jolly Rancher hard candy.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
The 207 Sour
Name: The 207 Sour
Crafted by: Seth Knowlton, Natalie’s Restaurant, Camden
Characteristics: This is a sour martini made with Applejack (a whiskey made from apples), along with a sharbat (a homemade concoction of Red Delicious apple peels marinated with lemon).
Notable: The sour notes in the martini don’t come from any commercial sour mix, but instead, from a complex layer of lemon juice, a deep apple flavor and the tang from the balsamic vinegar in the sharbat.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
The Spicy Mango Margarita
Name: The Spicy Mango Margarita
Crafted by: Shelly Trisch, La Vida, Belfast
Characteristics: Made with fresh puréed mango and a house tequila infused with Habenero peppers.
Notable: This cocktail was a major hit on Cinco de Mayo, so much so, that they ran out.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Belfast Orchard
Name: Belfast Orchard
Crafted by: Shawna Aitken, Delvino’s Grill and Pasta House, Belfast
Characteristics: Made with any top-shelf organic vodka, peach purée, freshly squeezed orange juice and Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur.
Notable: Despite its name, this cocktail doesn’t have any apples in it. Rather, it’s redolent of blood oranges.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
A Bad Decision
Name: A Bad Decision
Crafted by: Molly Miller Staples,The Landings, Rockland
Characteristics: This fruity, refreshing spin on the blueberry martini goes the extra mile with a light rim of tequila.
Notable: This particular cocktail was invented by one of their staff members who decided if one was going to make a bad decision over drinks, it might as well pack a wallop.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
The Eggnog Winter Sherry Flip
Name: The Eggnog Winter Sherry Flip
Crafted by: Clementina Senatore, co-owner and chef of Meanwhile In Belfast
Characteristics: This slightly sweet, coolly fresh homemade egg nog cocktail is ideal for brunch.
Notable: Made with from scratch egg nog, this cocktail is a perfect rum and sherry-infused drink for the holidays.
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
The Spiced Hot Buttered Rum Toddy
Name: The Spiced Hot Buttered Rum Toddy
Crafted by: Shelly Crisch, Delvino’s Grill and Pasta House, Belfast
Characteristics: A frozen concoction made with vanilla ice cream, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter chilled in a small ramekin. This is a creamy and comforting drink, especially after a cold, blustery day outside, and the cool whipped cream topping with nutmeg blends well with the warmth of the melted butter and spiced rum.
Notable: “It’s like a hot chocolate, but an adult hot chocolate.”
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?
Bad & Boozy
Name: Bad & Boozy
Crafted by: Dave Smith, The Block Saloon, Thomaston
Characteristics: A herbaceous, complex cool cocktail made from pureed cucumber, fresh squeezed lemon and sage simpe syrup that gives it its distinctive cloudy absinthe green color.
Notable: “Cucumber, sage and gin are amazing bedfellows—all three of them should get married.”
Full story: What’s in that cocktail?