Food

We’re Collecting Recipes for “Mazel Tov Cocktails”

A Trump surrogate's weird interview births a movement.

Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes has captured the heart of the nation with her charge on CNN that a Jay-Z video “starts off with a crowd throwing mazel tov cocktails.”

 

what? Not since Scott Walker wished a constituent “Molotov” when asked whether his office would display a menorah has there been such a bizarre conflation of the two ideas.

Jokes, of course, followed, along with stabs at what a “mazel tov” cocktail might be.

https://twitter.com/AnupKaphle/status/795619879835537408

Keep those Manischewitz jokes coming, everyone. They’re great. Anyway, in 2009 the English band the Wildhearts appeared to foresee this moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVFQ3rYxUM

That same year the Black Eyed Peas forever tied “Mazel Tov” to drinks in their classic “I Gotta Feeling.”

Still, we thought it might be helpful to have a recipe for a pretty good Mazel Tov Cocktail. Washingtonian has contacted several of DC’s best mixologists for an answer, but it’s pretty early for those folks. Here’s our Anna Spiegel‘s hastily constructed recipe–it could be bottled, or “batched,” she figures, if you leave out the sparkling wine. We’ll add others as we get them. Maybe you’ve got an idea what the MTC should be? Email me.

Mazel Tov Cocktail

(Serves one, best enjoyed sipped rather than flung)

.5 oz Arak (the national spirit of Israel, which has a pleasant anise flavor)
.5 oz Russian Standard vodka
1 oz. orange schlub, er, shrub
A dash of bitters
A sparkling wine floater

Here’s one from staff writer Ben Freed:

https://twitter.com/brfreed/status/795671372391477253

Thanks to DGS Delicatessen, here’s a great Mazel Tov Cocktail recipe that has already run in, uh, Washingtonian:

Mazel Tov Cocktail

Serves 1

¼ ounce lavender syrup (recipe below)
1 ounce Averell Damson plum gin liqueur, or quality sloe gin
Splash of fresh lemon juice
4 ounces Champagne or sparkling wine

Lavender Syrup

2 ounces dried lavender buds
2 cups water
1½ cup sugar

Make the lavender syrup: Pour two cups of water in a saucepan and soak lavender buds for 5 minutes. Add sugar, and then bring to a simmer for 7 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cool and strain. Syrup will last for 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to serve, pour lavender syrup, gin, and lemon in a mixing glass over ice, stir briefly, and strain into Champagne flute. Top with chilled Champagne and serve.

Here’s one from Kellie Mejdrich:

Here’s a delicious-looking one from Star & Shamrock co-owner Jason Feldman:

Mazel Tov Cocktail

In a Pint Glass with ice

1 oz Captain Morgan Cannon Blast spiced rum
1/2 oz Lime juice

Fill with Lewis Osterweis Hard Ginger Beer
Gently stir
Top with Blackberry Manischewitz Float

Here’s an MTC sent in by Stuart Rakley

6 oz Manischewitz Extra Heavy Malaga
3 oz Sprite
1 shot of simple syrup
Garnish with orange slice
Serve over ice
Rakley adds: “Insulin can be served on the side.”

From Carlie Steiner, co-owner and head bartender at Himitsu:

Manischewitz Spritz

1.5 oz aperol
1.5 oz Manischewitz
1 oz soda water
2 oz prosecco

This drink, from Amitai Adler, looks quite nice. “Because something decent should come out of this ludicrous insanity,” Adler writes.

Mazel Tov Cocktail

1 oz best quality slivovitz
1 oz best quality cherry eau de vie
1 oz honey eau de vie
8-10 oz dry sparkling wine
1/2 scraped vanilla bean pod
1 stick cinnamon
3-4 slices of tart apple, peeled and frozen, and 1 slice fresh.

Place the frozen apple into a pint glass. Chill the slivovitz and eau de vie in a shaker with some ice. Drain into the pint glass over the apple. Fill with sparkling wine. Take half of a split vanilla bean pod which has already been scraped down for the vanilla, and swirl it a couple of times through the drink. Take the cinnamon stick, scrape it once with a paring knife, then stir the drink with it several times. Garnish with fresh apple slice and serve.

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.