Given the time of year (and hopefully inspired by CL's annual Summer Guide), many of you will be at the beach this weekend — just in time for World Cocktail Day on Saturday. And I've got good news. Not only is this week's featured drink worthy of the holiday, but it's also inspired by one local bartender's experience with a spectacular sunrise.
Robby Rosello is that bartender. Lead bartender for St. Pete Beach's waterfront Kimpton Hotel Zamora — which I fell in love with two years ago, and whose 360° Rooftop I make it a point to stop at whenever I'm out that way — Rosello wanted to recreate the sunrise he witnessed over the Pyrenees mountains in Spain. That's how the Niña Bonita was born.
One of the signature cocktails of Castile, the Mediterranean restaurant located below the fifth-floor rooftop lounge, Niña Bonita speaks to Rosello's experience as well as the Spanish style of the dining spot itself.
"Since we are a Mediterranean restaurant with heavy Spanish influences, I wanted this drink to have a nice Spanish flair so I decided to use Spanish Oloroso Brandy," Rosello said. "I paired the nuttiness of the brandy with the oak smoke of reposado tequila and sweetened it with a little OJ and some sugar. I then crushed some ice and put it in the martini glass."
But to fully execute what he felt at those mountains as the sun rose? A slice of fresh grapefruit, which resembles a sunrise when turned sideways.
My recommendation for World Cocktail Day would be to pair a nice dinner at Castile (try the paella ((my god)) with the Niña Bonita. Then, of course, take the elevator up to 360° and marvel at the beach's sunset. It's gotta be as awesome as the sunrises they get in Spain, right?
Niña Bonita
Makes 1
1 1/4 ounces Herradura Silver Tequila
3/4 ounce Oloroso Brandy
1 1/4 ounces orange juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 grapefruit slice
1 sage spring
1 dash grapefruit bitters
Shake tequila, brandy, OJ and sugar well in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in a chilled punch cocktail glass and garnish with a grapefruit slice and spring of sage over crushed ice. Sprinkle grapefruit bitters.
Follow CL contributor Chris Fasick (@cfasick) on Twitter, or email him at cdfasick@gmail.com if there's a cocktail or recipe you'd like featured.
This article appears in May 11-18, 2017.