Fall Cocktails

I cannot remember a time we’ve had more divas behind the bar than in front of it, but if the new Fall Cocktails are anything to go by, we have entered a golden age. What I’m loving about this team of Alessandra, Andrew, Terra and Linda, all solid when it comes to mixology, is that they are more interested in hitting the notes customers long for than grandstanding with liquid arias to their formidable collective talents. Our six new libations are habit forming in the extreme, crowd-pleasers yet still retaining intrigue. Some of the ingredients are more ephemeral than others, but the pared down sensibility they’ve taken when it comes to layering flavors achieves complexity through simplicity, no easy feat… except when you know what you’re doing. I’m loving these drinks. Take a look.

The Last Aristocrats of Summer is all about our award winning pear juice, which clever Terra claimed dibs on as soon as she heard Dan and I had spent the night at Tintin juicing the last of the Hosui and Shinseiki pears. Our Asian pear orchard sits on the edge of the ridge facing northwest, apart from the other pears and the acres of apples and chestnuts. They make best use of that first hit of fog as it rises up from the draw, and soak in the last rays of sunlight as it chases the ocean. They are an elegant fruit, flavor wise, with subtle sweetness high on florals, especially on the nose. The Last Aristocrats of Summer is held aloft with an Earl Gray infused vodka, and a spike of St George spiced pear liquor, but it’s luxurious body and texture is of fragrant pear juice. Terra’s pumpkin rim is six roasted spices - she won’t say what - but Starbucks eat your heart out. Shaken and served martini style, icy cold, for as long as the juice lasts.

After hanging out for years with my friend Sandra Jordan I have come to love the taste of a good Pisco Sour, but even when you use an artisan Pisco, it lacks complexity. Rum, on the other hand, is usually too complex, especially when combined, as it usually is, with bold competing flavors. What makes Andrew’s Dreamland Sour one of my favorite new cocktails is that it evokes the memory of a tropical pineapple and rum concoction but makes the case for rum with rounder more fulsome flavor, courtesy of his ginger honey chamomile syrup. In this cocktail Andrew has managed to temper those powerful Jamaican and Peruvian spirits while still giving them their due. Finished with a fall fan of bitters that floats on a surprisingly foamy (vegan!) topper in lieu of egg whites which can adversely affect aroma. What you get here is a wonderful burnt pineapple scent with a hint of spicy undernotes.

Arrakis Kiss is the newest mind boggler from Alessandra, who is fearless when choosing her impetus spirits, terribly clever in what she pairs with it. This is only the second time in our history we’ve had Aquavit on the chalkboard. Aquavit tempered with Luxardo Bitter Bianco and paired with agave? Well, yes. Orange flower water with lemon juice and cardamon bitters? Yes again. There is great finesse to all of Alessandra’s creations and Arrakis Kiss is no exception. It’s a perfect fall libation we wholeheartedly dedicate to all those Frank Herbert readers out there, as the name is an obvious nod to Melange, the drink of choice on Dune. To which we can only add yes again. Make love not war kids. There is enough of that floating around these days.

Permission to Flirt is Linda's first foray onto the board. She is our newest bar team member - and happy we are to welcome her and her contributions to the Barn. Permission to Flirt is one of two new cocktails Lynda re-imagined for fall (the other, Black Buffalo, is a bourbon drink similar to Why Bears do It) and it’s by far the most accessible new cocktail on the list. Before the Cosmo became obsequious (and dumbed down) it began life at the fabled Odeon, a simple but elegant (and only lightly blushed) cocktail great to drink at the start or end of an evening. Permission to Flirt has those same simple chops to become a standard. It works for brunch, it works late night, you can down a few and still feel better than fine. Made with honey-crisp vodka, pomegranate hibiscus syrup, ginger bitters and fresh citrus which lifts the flavors and the mood. The addition of bubbly from Roederer Estate makes it festive, yet still a balm for a restive spirit.

It’s not a misnomer, especially in a room as pretty as the Barn’s bar on any night, to want to enjoy everything about a cocktail lounge - the music, the flowers, the tall windows to the beautiful Sonoma County sky - without alcohol. We come together to drink for so many reasons, we too often forget that only one of them - and probably not the most important - is to get a buzz on. Even without the addition of any signature spirit, The Trickster is a terrific cocktail. Seedlip makes it easy to devise new ways to present N/A drinks without disappointment. Seedlip Garden 108 is fully herbal without being medicinal, and it’s wonderfully dry. There is little that needs to be done to it unless you are a Barndiva diva - looking at you Andrew - in which case you add a splash of Schezwan Pepper syrup and top a highball filled with ice with dry farmed heirloom apple juice. Welcome to The Trickster.

Kick-ass Divas in the Land of Nod

To CBD or not to CBD - it’s an increasingly popular topic of conversation these days. Most of us have come to believe in the efficacy of the cream for aching backs, but the jury is out on whether it can cure a whole range of afflictions from epilepsy to anxiety. The healing attributes of so many herbs and tinctures seems to ride a thin line between knowledge and faith; then again both are pretty potent integers, whether you are contemplating a cocktail or coping with daily life.

What I can offer definitively is that our two new summer drinks are trippy, for all the right ‘restorative’ reasons. Flower Child uses vodka made from a distillation of hemp seed from Humboldt Distillery, where they know a thing or two about Cannabis Sativa L. There is nothing psychotropic in the spirit, which is earthy on the nose, slightly resinous on the palate. Chappy, our wine director, who also takes great interest in our cocktail program, said from the get-go that a martini was the only way to go with the distinctive flavor of “Humboldt’s Finest,” but our bartenders, notably Terra, disagreed. By adding a hint of tarragon infused Noilly Prat vermouth, a skosh of peach bitters, muddling cucumber coins in fresh lime juice and an exuberant shake, she came forth with a truly surprising cocktail. While we may not be entering a summer of love in this country, all the more reason a little liquid joy in the glass is not amiss - which Terra has supplied in this cocktail. It’s intriguing, it’s new, and its pretty pansy and cornflower garnish comes from right here in the gardens.

I am on record for initially turning my nose up when I heard the ingredients in our other new cocktail - I honestly thought there was no way it could work. Not only does it work, it’s one of my favorite concoctions. The artful way Alessandra has combined seemingly refractory flavors is secondary to the fact it is simply delicious, without being simple. The drink starts with a St George Chili Vodka, to which she added liquefied corn (aka corn water, puréed and strained) and Falernum, an Orgeat-like liqueur from the Caribbean with hints of ginger, lime and almonds. Lost you yet? It’s also got a Mezcal spray which lightly coats the glass before the liquid is poured, and a stellar Piment d’Ville salt rim. The Piment d’ Espelette we are using is grown and refined in Boonville by Johnny Schmidt, a friend for over forty years. You can purchase it at The Boonville Hotel in Anderson Valley or cage it online. This is a product that’s good for just about anything that ails you, and, as Alessandra proves, it makes the perfect rimmer.

Not from Kansas Anymore would have been a cool name for the drink - the creaminess of the corn water is key to the drink’s elevation of the Falernum- but that was too easy- Alessandra’s ingenuity demanded more. Then something the brilliant theoretical physicist Lisa Randall said in an interview with Krista Tippett in the always wonderful podcast On Being struck me: “we can go beyond our prejudices about things that seem obviously wrong…as they may just be obviously wrong to us.” In her new book Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, Randall writes about what she believes is the astounding interconnectedness of the cosmos’ history and our own, fascinating, but the take away she sparked in me with this interview was that there are profound connections to be made all the time, whether we are setting about unraveling the mysteries of the universe’s hidden dimensions or just getting on with our daily lives. “The most interesting kind of creativity is constrained creativity, where you have some rules. There’s certain formulas that you have to stick to, at some level, but within that framework, can you make it interesting? Can you see how things fit together in more complex and surprising ways?” The journey I made from an initial flat reading of the ingredients in Alessandra’s drink to what she actually created was a lesson in constrained creativity, and for staying open, not letting assumptions impede passage to something interesting, revelatory, joyful. Warped Passage, the name of Alessandra’s drink, was borrowed from an earlier Lisa Randall book. Read her.

We are proud to have four distinct divas guiding our bar programs (yes, we are looking at you too, Andrew). Come in and meet them. Not dining? No problem, it’s a big bar, with a lovely garden. We will help you confound gravity.