Meet El Dorado’s Summer Lineup of Cocktails

[Re-Posted from El Dorado]

It’s hard to pick a favorite season to build a new cocktail menu, but Summer always makes the top two. If you’ve been a guest of ours for the past few years, you’ve probably gotten familiar with how fun Summer Menus have been. Last summer we introduced a Mezcal Old Fashioned variation (Going Back to Mezcali), a refreshing Raspberry Collins (St. Thomas Collins), a fantastic Peach infused highball (Peaches for Me), a Campari rinsed Martini (Armani), and our first tiki cocktail (Your Tai). In true fashion, we kept to a very similar formula with refreshing ingredients and new syrups, infusions, and formulas. This summer we also felt 5 new cocktails wasn’t enough and decided to launch 2 additional $8 options. So without further ado, here’s a few of our favorites from the Summer selection of 2013:

Mr. Sinister

It wouldn’t be an El Dorado menu without an Old Fashioned variation. Our bar manager Ryan Koontz has been hard at work creating new syrups, and this Apple Cinnamon Spiced syrup is one of a kind. Creating a refreshing Old Fashioned is no easy task (considering it’s predominantly Whiskey), but Ryan managed to pass this test with flying colors. Smooth bourbon finish, with a nice refreshing apple spice on the back end. Add Mole bitters and top it off with a lemon zest and you have a perfect Summer Old Fashioned.

Piña Colada

It seems that Tiki cocktails are slowly becoming tradition for us to add to our Summer Menu. And this addition might be our favorite on the menu. Born in 1960, the Piña Colada has been a staple of the Tiki world. We decided to approach it with a little different style, so Ryan created a Pineapple Coconut syrup to throw in the mix. Add a classic White Rum, some fresh lime juice and you have a well crafted El Dorado Piña Colada. It also wouldn’t quite be a Tiki cocktail if we didn’t garnish the crap out of it, complete with umbrella.

The Float

We originally brought Root Beer to El Dorado simply to enjoy Root Beer at work. Why? Because Root Beer is %$#@ing delicious, that’s why. Then as summer approached, we couldn’t help but think of how much we loved (and still love) Root Beer Floats growing up in the summer heat. After trial and error, we feel like we came through with a legitimate, booze fueled Root Beer Float. White Rum, Egg, Vanilla Syrup, Cream, and Root Beer was all it took to bring our childhood summers back to life in adult form.

Baby Cakes

Whisky, fresh lemon juice, strawberries, vanilla syrup, all mixed together in a Traditional Sour (Egg Whites). There really couldn’t be a more ideal combination. This has already proven to be a favorite amongst our guests. It’s either the delicious combination of these fresh ingredients, or our snazzy new El Dorado stencil that keeps the drink flowing.

The Summer menu is already underway as our Menu Release party was an absolute blast! Check out our Facebook page to see all of the great photos. And be sure to come try all of our new tasty libations for $5 a pop during our Happy Hour everyday until 9pm.

Steven Tuttle is the general manager of El Dorado, and works directly with our bar manager on every new menu. Catch Steven around the bar Wednesdays through Saturdays, and if you’re extra lucky you might even catch him behind the stick, pouring or shaking your next cocktail.