Expressive and seductive, sherry is in the midst of a revival. Once known as the beverage of choice by your grandmother, the Spanish fortified wine has piqued the interest of modern mixologists who admire its versatility.
Sherry ranges from dry manzanilla and fino to aged oloroso. Its minerality allows bartenders to add a rich umamilike depth of flavor to cocktails. The earthy, oaky notes give a deep base tone to such spirits as whiskey, bourbon, mezcal and gin. The rounded sweetness is also a bonus. It’s increasingly popping up as a mixer in refreshing summer cocktails.
Anne Marineau, bar manager at Black Bull, a Spanish tapas eatery in Wicker Park, has one of the largest sherry programs in Chicago, with more than 30 cocktails and 40 by-the-glass or bottle options. “I love working with sherry because it’s so versatile,” she says. “We use it to make syrups, as the modifying ingredient or as the base ingredient,” Marineau says. “It’s one category that gives you hundreds of options to work into a cocktail.”
When she looks for a sweetening agent with more body and dimension than sugar, she uses Pedro Ximenez, the rich dessert sherry. Alternatively, to balance a sweet-leaning cocktail, Marineau reaches for manzanilla “because it will help dry out the sugar, while the briny, salty quality brings out the natural flavors of the other ingredients,” she says. One of her favorites: The Sancho Panza.
Kelly Peterson Bates, beverage director at the Boarding House in Chicago says her Midnight Manhattan cocktail is the restaurant’s biggest seller. “We wanted the layers of flavor that a sherry provides a cocktail, so we added fino sherry into a somewhat classic Manhattan,” she says. “It actually adds a bit of acidity to the drink, rounding out the other ingredients and creating balance, while contributing a subtle nuttiness.”
Whether you are rounding off the sweetness of your cocktail or looking to impart a subtle dimension, sherry offers a multitude of options.
Laura Levy Shatkin is a freelance writer.
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Sancho Panza
Makes: 1 drink
From Anne Marineau of Black Bull.
2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon ground sage leaves, plus fresh leaves for garnish
1 1/2 ounces manzanilla sherry
3/4 ounce blanco mezcal
3/4 ounce lime juice
1/4 ounce ginger syrup
1/2 ounce sage syrup
1 Crush the salt and sage leaves together with a mortar and pestle. Use to coat half the rim of a cocktail glass, wetting the rim then dipping it into the mixture.
2 Shake the remaining ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker; strain into the glass over crushed ice. Garnish with sage leaves.
Syrups: For the ginger syrup, heat 1/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1/4 cup finely diced ginger and 1/4 cup sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. For the sage syrup, use 4 sprigs fresh sage to 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup sugar. Allow to steep off the heat until infused, 1 hour or more.
Midnight Manhattan
Makes: 1 drink
From Kelly Peterson Bates of the Boarding House.
1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1 ounce amaro, such as Amaro Nonino
1/2 ounce fino sherry
2 drops Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters or another bitters
1 brandy-soaked cherry
Stir all the ingredients except the cherry together in a mixing glass; strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with the cherry.