Dusty Frierson, General Manager
Branch Cocktail Bar, Hattiesburg, MS
www.branchcocktailbar.com

Streets of Fire

The Streets of Fire is a cocktail that is perfect for the hot summers here in the south. It has a little spicy kick, but also cool and refreshing. I wanted to make a cocktail highlighting yuzu and Bitter End Thai bitters. Yuzu is a citrus fruit that finds its origin in East Asia. It is really unlike any other citrus fruit we are accustomed to having here in the US. So, I built this cocktail backwards in a sense, focusing on two of the smallest volume ingredients. I did not want a completely neutral spirit like Vodka, so I chose Gin. However, some London Dry Gins would impart too much in the way of pine and juniper. Plymouth Gin is perfect because you have some traditional Gin flavors, but nothing is overpowering.

The yuzu seems to beg for mint. This works because it also seems to give a cooling balance to the spicy Thai bitters. We put all these ingredients together, and it seemed to make the cocktail sing. The final touch was just a barspoon full of white whiskey that gives the drink some roundness and depth.

Music is not just a background thing in Branch. We have a Hi-Fi turntable, and we are constantly talking about music selections for the night. So, we end up naming a lot of cocktails with some type of music reference. My appreciation of Bruce Springsteen led to the name of this cocktail with a fiery finish.

Streets of Fire

1 ¾ oz. Plymouth Gin
¼ oz. Trybox white whiskey
¾ oz. Yuzu juice
¾ oz. Simple Syrup
8-10 mint leaves
Two dashes of Bitter End Thai bitters

Shake all ingredients in a shaker tin (do not muddle). Fine-strain into ice-filled rocks glass.