Make Mine a Mini

By ERIC FELTEN

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Anne Cardenas, Set by DSM

Mini drinks are the next big (little) thing.

FOR TOO LONG, COCKTAILS have been too big. A benchmark is the Martini: Consider the prewar versions favored by Mame Dennis, the chic Manhattanite of "Auntie Mame." We're told in the 1958 movie version that she abjures an olive garnish because it takes up too much room in such a little glass—which, in that era, might have measured anywhere between 2 and 4 ounces. By contrast, in modern glasses of 8 or 10 ounces (or more), there's so much space that three overstuffed olives have become the norm.

Over the last half-century, cocktails have grown to fishbowl proportions. Now, top bartenders are stocking up on dainty vintage glassware for serving potent, flavorful, just-the-right-size refreshments. Eric Felten explains on Lunch Break. Photo: F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal/food styling by Leah Perrotta.

Drinkers serious about their Martinis have always known to keep them on the small side; a big drink served straight up gets dishwater-warm before it's half finished. Cocktails in general and Martinis in particular "should be cold and refreshing," said Chantal Tseng, bartender at the Tabard Inn in Washington, D.C. "No one likes the last few sips of a warm gin Martini." Better bartenders have been moving toward smaller drinks for several years, but not without resistance. When Ms. Tseng endeavored to make better Martinis by serving them in 5-ounce glasses, customers in the habit of drinking supersize cocktails assumed they were being cheated with a stingy pour.

New York drink mavens Julie Reiner and Audrey Saunders faced the same problem when they opened Pegu Club in SoHo several years ago. The golden-age cocktails featured at the bar were best served as drinks much smaller than customers were used to. The challenge, Ms. Reiner said, is to provide the public something better than what they are accustomed to, while still giving them "what they expect"—that is, a voluminous cocktail for their money. Ms. Saunders and Ms. Reiner solved the problem by making a modern-size drink and serving half of it in a small glass, with the other half—a "dividend"—on ice in a little carafe on the side.

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Ms. Tseng found that patrons were more accepting of smaller drinks if they were served, not in diminutive versions of the glasses they were used to, but in quirky vintage glasses for which they had no size expectations. "The only way to adjust," Ms. Tseng said, "was simply to change the shape of our glassware altogether." In the category of stemmed glasses alone, that could mean anything from the shallow-bowled coupes so popular in the last couple of years to Manhattan glasses with flat-bottomed bowls and angled sides to the curvaceous variations on Martini glasses known as Nick-and-Noras, after the main characters in the "Thin Man" movies, who raise them regularly.

“A spirit-forward classic cocktail can be fascinating in small quantities but overpowering when supersize.”

In right-size volumes, drinks can be bolder. A spirit-forward classic such as the Widow's Kiss, made with apple brandy, Chartreuse and Benedictine, is fascinating in small quantities but overpowering when supersized. Tristan Willey, bar manager at Booker & Dax, a nexus of innovative cocktail making that is part of the Manhattan-based Momofuku restaurant group, applies the same principle in his newly minted cocktails. "We have found ourselves working with extremely potent flavors," he said, "flavors we love, but which we would never want a whole cocktail's worth of." One such drink is the Debbie, made with gin, dry vermouth, red-onion-infused gin and a pinch of salt. The combination is so intense, Mr. Willey said, "You only need a few sips before wishing to move on."

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Smaller cocktails, like smaller plates, provide the opportunity to sample a number of different menu items without overdoing it. "The timing for a return to smaller cocktails couldn't be better," said Tad Carducci, bartender at the Tippler in New York. "It mirrors trends in the way we are eating." Glassware makers are taking note. In the new Mixology line of barware from the staid Waterford firm, the cocktail coupes are surprisingly madcap, the cut crystal stemware colored in luminous shades of red, blue, purple and neon green. But even more remarkable is the scale of these coupes: a mere 3½ ounces.

You'd require something even smaller, however, were you mixing a Martini the way Ernest Hemingway preferred it. In a new book on drinks in Hemingway's life and fiction, "To Have and Have Another," author Philip Greene includes the author's late-'40s Martini recipe: "Just enough vermouth to cover the bottom of the glass, ounce 3/4 of gin." For garnish, the novelist preferred a single cocktail onion, which made the drink, strictly speaking, a Gibson—but who's to argue with someone who took his drinks as seriously as Hemingway did? He kept the onions in the deep freeze so they acted as savory, nondiluting ice cubes. Tiny though this drink was, every sip was bracing, potent, ice cold: everything a cocktail should be.

Tiny Cocktails and Glasses Sized Right

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

The Debbie

The Debbie

Ingredients:

1 ounce gin

1⁄4 ounce dry vermouth 1

⁄4 ounce onion liquor

Pinch of salt

Lemon twist

Instructions:

Stir ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

To make onion liquor: Purée 1 red onion and strain the juice into gin, to taste.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Sazerac

Sazerac

Ingredients:

1 cube sugar

2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

2 ounces rye whiskey

Strip lemon peel

Absinthe

Lemon twist

Instructions:

Muddle sugar with bitters and a splash of water until sugar is dissolved. Add whiskey, ice and strip lemon peel. Stir until very cold. Rinse a short, chilled bar glass with a splash absinthe. Strain drink into glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Garden Room Pousse Café

Garden Room Pousse Café

Ingredients:

1⁄2 ounce crème de cassis

1⁄2 ounce yellow Chartreuse

1⁄2 ounce Cognac

Instructions:

Pour cassis into the bottom of a small cordial glass. Place the tip of a spoon against the inside of the glass and gently pour over the spoon a layer of Chartreuse. Then, using the same technique, add a layer of Cognac. The layers should be equal and unmixed.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Fancy Free

Fancy Free

Ingredients:

Lemon wedge

Sugar

2 ounces bourbon

1⁄2 ounce maraschino liqueur

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 dash orange bitters

Instructions:

Moisten the rim of a small, chilled cocktail glass with lemon wedge and dip rim in sugar. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into prepared glass.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Neon

Neon

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 ounces gin

1 1⁄2 ounces bianco vermouth

3⁄4 ounce apricot eau-de-vie

2 dashes orange bitters

Instructions:

Orange twist Stir ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled Waterford Neon coupe. Garnish with orange twist.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Hemingway Martini

Hemingway Martini

Ingredients:

1 3⁄4 ounces gin

1 teaspoon dry vermouth

Cocktail onion, frozen

Instructions:

Stir ingredients well for at least a minute with plenty of ice. Strain into a small chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cocktail onion.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Drunk Uncle

Drunk Uncle

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 ounces Islay Whisky

3⁄4 ounce Cynar

3⁄4 ounce white vermouth

Grapefruit twist

Instructions:

Stir ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Widow's Kiss

Widow's Kiss

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 ounces calvados

1⁄2 ounce yellow Chartreuse

1⁄2 ounce Benedictine

Lemon twist

Instructions:

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Tiger Flip

Tiger Flip (for two)

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 ounces Ron Zacapa aged rum

1⁄2 ounce coffee liqueur

1⁄2 ounce mezcal, plus additional for garnish

1⁄2 ounce Demerara syrup

1 whole egg

Instructions:

Shake ingredients vigorously with ice and strain into two small cocktail glasses. For an invisible garnish, put mezcal in an atomizer and spray a scant mist over top of each drink.

To make Demerara syrup: Combine equal parts Demerara sugar and water.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

Casablanca Crusta

Casablanca Crusta

Ingredients:

Lemon wedge

Sugar

1 1⁄2 ounces gin

1⁄4 ounce chamomile-honey syrup

1⁄4 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 dash Cointreau

1 dash bitters

Long, wide strip lemon peel

Sprig mint

Instructions:

Moisten the rim of a small- mouthed cordial glass with lemon wedge and then dip rim in sugar. Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into prepared glass. Garnish by wrapping lemon peel inside the mouth of the glass. Add mint.

To make chamomile-honey syrup: Combine equal parts hot chamomile tea and honey. Let cool.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Leah Perrotta

The Crippler

The Crippler (for two)

Ingredients:

3⁄4 ounce rye whiskey

3⁄4 ounce Rhum JM Gold 3

⁄4 ounce mezcal

3⁄4 ounce Stroh Jagertee (Austrian liqueur made with tea and spices)

1 dash yellow Chartreuse

2 dashes Bitter End Memphis BBQ bitters

Instructions:

Stir ingredients well with ice and strain into two small cocktail glasses.

Small Drinks, Big Bottles

One of the advantages of smaller cocktails is that you can use a much higher quality of liquor without wasting it in a bath of mixers. Here are four spirits worth drinking straight, but that also can contribute to great cocktails.

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

From left: Ardbeg Corryvreckan, Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye Whiskey, Del Maguey 'Chichicapa' Single Village Mezcal, Christian Drouin 'Coeur de Lion' Hors d'Age

1. Ardbeg Corryvreckan

The Drunk Uncle cocktail (see recipe above) calls for a whisky from the Scottish island of Islay. Those whiskies share a smoky flavor that traditionally comes from drying malted barley over peat from the island's bogs. The Ardbeg distillery produces one of the peatiest whiskies on the island, and the special Corryvreckan bottling is no exception. The robust peat smoke melds flawlessly with sweet dark fruit flavors balanced by an espresso-like bitter- ness. There's a lot going on in this huge, lush and fiery spirit. 57.1% ABV, $80

2. Sazerac 18 Year Old Rye Whiskey

Increasingly hard to come by, this is a brilliant whiskey for making the classic Sazerac cocktail, and not because of the name. It starts off hot in the mouth, with the sort of spiciness one wants in a rye whiskey. Clove-studded orange peel comes through next, and the finish resolves into candied pecans. 45% ABV, $70

3. Del Maguey 'Chichicapa' Single Village Mezcal

Sweet and smoky—imagine a cross between tequila and Scotch. An agave spirit made in the Mexican village of Chichicapa, it has a cheerful taste of fresh, ripe cantaloupe at first sip, and the finish is long and soft, with hints of cilantro and mint. The bartenders behind the Crippler and the Tiger Flip cocktails both name Del Maguey Chichicapa as their mezcal of choice. 46% ABV, $70

4. Christian Drouin "Coeur de Lion" Hors d'Age

Purists will object to using a very old calvados such as the Drouin Hors d'Age in any sort of cocktail. But a drink such as the Widow's Kiss can be adjusted to make the most of an elegant base spirit. Instead of one- and-a-half ounces calvados to a half-ounce each of Chartreuse and Benedictine, try two ounces of the apple brandy to a scant teaspoon each of the liqueurs for a refined Widow. If you have trouble finding Drouin—its rarity only contributes to its cult appeal—other producers who make beautifully aged Calvados include Boulard and Lecompte, 42% ABV, $98

A Well-Stocked Bar

Finding smaller glasses takes legwork these days, but there are a few purveyors that make it easier for you. Below, sources for right-size barware, vintage and contemporary.

The Hour

Victoria Vergason has been collecting midcentury cocktail glasses, shakers and more for over 20 years. In 2009 she turned her collection into the Hour, an extraordinary vintage barware shop in Alexandria, Va.—the source for most of the glasses pictured above—and this summer she opened an Hour boutique inside Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills. thehourshop.com

Etsy

Dozens of specialists in vintage glassware can be tapped via Etsy. Try a Eugene, Ore., shop called Hazel Roberts for coupes (hazelroberts.etsy.com). Or search Etsy for "vintage cocktail" to uncover all manner of unique finds. etsy.com

Cocktail Kingdom

This New York store is a go-to for the city's serious bartenders. Their four-and-a-half-ounce Leopold coupe has become the glass of choice at many of the town's best bars. cocktailkingdom.com

Waterford

The crystal maker's Mixology collection has coupes at a restrained three-and-a-half ounces, just the right size for many vintage cock-tails—and well-proportioned contemporary ones. crystalclassics.com