AIRMAIL DRINK PLUS

There are other brands of flavored honeys you can experiment with, too. (Here's the Oracle Pour's read on that drink.) I like to use Mike's Hot Honey when making a honey syrup for an extra kick of spice in cocktails.

If you like the Air Mail and you're a gin fan, try the French 75 instead. Shake and strain into a Collins, fizzВ or other tall, thinВ glass filled with ice,В then top with champagne.В Dress it up with a wee paper airplane or postage stamp on a cocktail pick for garnish, or a twist of orange. To make the cocktail: FillВ a shaker with ice.В Add rum, lime juice (fresh squeezed is best)В and honey syrup. To make the honey syrup:В Add 1/2 cup boiling water to 1/2 cup of honey, shake until dissolved, cool.

Jigger or measuring deviceВ (a standard shot glass holdsВ 1.5 oz, if you're eyeballing it).

Highball, fizz or other tall thin glass.

You don't need any specialty equipment to mix a simple cocktail.В Improvise with what you have take a hammer to a baggie of ice if you want. On glassware: I have been served Air Mails in champagne flutes and cocktail coupes, too, but I agree with Difford's Guide, which describes it as a 'short drink served long' and suggest the classic serving: in a highball, Collins or fizz glass - anything tall and thin with a flat bottom -В with ice, so the stem of a flute, which otherwise helps protect chilled champagne from being warmed by your hands,В isn't entirely necessary. If you prefer cocktails on the less-sweet side, goВ for a champagne marked Brut, orВ Extra Brut or even Brut Nature if you have even less of a sweet tooth.В ('Extra Dry' and 'Dry' are sweeter than the Brut levels - the labels areВ tricky like that.) Prosecco is a handy sparkling to keep stocked at home because of its ability to lift a cocktail without interfering too much with its other flavors, and it can certainly sub in here.В But I believe theВ bready flavors a champagne brings to the cocktailВ helpВ the rum and honey really sing. In any case, you want a rum with some complexity whose flavorsВ will be enhancedВ -В not overshadowedВ -В by the honey and the champagne.Д«ecause the Air Mail is made withВ honey syrup, you'll want to adjust for sugar content on the bubbly end, depending on your taste. I like BacardГ Reserva Ocho in this one (and, truth be told, in most classic cocktails), andВ their AГ±ejo Cuatro works well, too. So, I reach for one of their aged rums when mixing an Air Mail.

AIRMAIL DRINK PLUS

The Air Mail follows the same basic formula as a French 75 - base spirit plus citrusВ andВ a sweetener, topped with champagne -В blended into a harmonious crowd-pleaser with a rich sweetness, thanks to the honey syrupВ cut with the brightness of lime juice.ДЄccording to James Meehan's 'Meehan's Bartender's Manual,'В this drink - popular in the 1940s - was reintroduced to the canon by historian David Wondrich in his first cocktails book in 2002, sourced from a 1930s recipe pamphlet produced by BacardГ. Has it been a while since you felt that connection? What can you do today to make that feeling happen for you and someone you miss? Consider inviting a friend or two overВ for a round of Air Mails, or mix yourself one and text or call a friend you haven't heard from in a while.

Drinks are just the vehicleВ to pull each other close, without the distraction of a meal or an activity, and really listen to the answer to 'how are you doing?' Distance - however we measure it - has been conquered, at least for the moment. That relief of connection is also partly what we seek when we sit down together for a long, in-depth conversation over drinks. Any way you receive the message, knowing that someone is thinking about you, and has taken the time and made the effort to reach out and say so, feels good, especially if you've been somewhat isolated for any reason. That incomparableВ feeling, the relief of connection after separation, is hard to imitate precisely with today's digital tools and unlimited long-distance phone calls, though immediacy can makeВ up for a relative lack of drama.

' The Oracle Pour' is Salon Food's spirits column that helps you decide what to drink tonight.ДЇew designs catapult me right back into my feelings like seeing theВ Par Avion / Via Air Mail wings printed on an envelope edged in maroon and navy diagonal lines that suggest swift movement across vast distances.

Airmail drink