Using sherry in drinks is by no means a new thing in the long history of cocktails. While sherry had been consigned to cooking wine status throughout most of the last century, skilled bartenders are returning it to its rightful place as a main cocktail ingredient. Thanks to bars like Shaw’s Mockingbird Hill (currently closed for remodeling), which did a lot educate patrons about fortified wine, sherry cocktails are no longer considered a weird thing today, either.
Sherry itself is already a mixed drink; it is wine that is fortified with distilled grape spirit. Its alcohol content ranges from 15.5 to 17 percent, like port, but most sherries are dry due to the fact that they are allowed to ferment away more sugar during aging. Sherry, or “Jerez,” is a Spanish spirit, named after Jerez de la Frontera, the town near which sherry grapes are grown. All sherries labeled by their Spanish name “Jerez” must come from the province of Cadiz.
Sherries come in a variety of ages and flavors, as Jaleo (480 7th St. NW) bartender Nelson Mendez explains.
“Amontillado is drier and fruitier and pairs well with gin,” he says, while shaking up an Albariza. This cocktail, which translates as “white sand,” is named for the soil where the grape for Aurora sherry is grown. This cocktail is light and floral with Tanqueray gin, elderflower liquor, lemon juice and bitters, and egg white. The sherry grounds the gin’s spice notes and adds hints of rich white wine.
“Manzanilla is even lighter,” says Mendez.
He pours a measure of Pastrana sherry and Sprite into a Collins glass with an orange peel and orange and lemon bitters.
“This one is more for summertime,” Mendez says of the Rebujito, a lightly-alcoholic spritzer. It’s not a bad drink, but it’s not great for January, either. For a cold day treat, try the Highland Games with Monkey Shoulder scotch, egg white, and the rich, raisin-like flavor of Pedro Ximénez sherry.
“I like the citrus,” says Mendez. “It has orange zest on top, but lemon juice, too.”
The combination makes for a silky dessert drink with a sweet citrus zip.
The lightest of all sherries, fino, appears in the España at the newly opened Farmers & Distillers (600 Massachusetts Ave. NW). This is a Martini with house-distilled Farm vodka, fino sherry, and dry vermouth. It comes in a Nick & Nora glass with the remaining cocktail chilling in a cool sidecar carafe to ensure that your drink is frigid from start to finish.
“I try to challenge people’s misconceptions about sherry,” says Carlie Steiner, owner and beverage manager at Himitsu (828 Upshur St. NW) a Japanese cuisine restaurant in Petworth.
“They think it’s all sweet or only for cooking—Sherry is so versatile you can substitute it for any spirit,” she says.
That’s due in part to its scarcity and drinkers’ preference for higher-proof liquor during and after Prohibition. So what once was the drink of colonial America’s sophisticates and a great way to liven punches more than a hundred years ago has given way to cheap, overly sweet sherries that misrepresented the range and versatility of this fortified wine.
Steiner says she first started mixing sherry cocktails in earnest while doing Red Eye Menu popups at mostly Asian restaurants.
“All these sherries paired well with these flavors: spicy, sweet, pickled,” Steiner says.
Take the Pineapple En Rama, a play on the Tio Pepe Fino En Rama she uses to fortify fresh pineapple and lime juice. The menu describes the drink as “funky and slammable,” and it is both. Another thirst quencher, Melon Hi Chew, imitates Japanese candy with a simple mix of Alexandro fino and aloe vera.
For a twist on a classic, ask for a sherry Negroni with equal parts, fino sherry, Hayman’s Old Tom gin, and Aperol. It’s a less bitter but richly flavored version of the original. Himitsu’s cocktails range from $10 to $15 and you can sample their sherries in flights for $30 to $45.
Proof (775 G Street NW) always has a sherry drink on their aperitif cocktail menu. The Adonis is made with Oloroso sherry, a well-aged and oxidized sherry that adds a light brown color and nutty notes to Cocci vermouth and orange bitters. Cocktails composed primarily of sherry like these are less alcoholic and make for good before-dinner drinks.
The Cadiz is a creamy DIY dessert cocktail that makes a point of using dry sherry to balance richer blackberry brandy and triple sec.
• 1 ½ oz. fino sherry
• 1 oz. blackberry brandy
• ½ oz. triple sec
• ½ oz. half-and-half
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into an Old Fashioned glass.
