While Labor Day weekend is typically treated as a time to celebrate one last hoorah before summer officially ends, the recommendation right now, is to stay home.
After months of monotony, the thought of another holiday at home feels less than exciting, but let’s remember, this is a time to honor American workers. To remember the feeling of seeing New Yorkers open their windows and cheer as exhausted doctors and nurses battling this deadly virus changed shifts. To remember the essential workers mustering up the courage to do their jobs on the frontlines every day. The teachers in or getting ready to go back into classrooms, the grocery store workers stocking shelves, the bus drivers providing transportation.
We may not have the usual parades and large gatherings of friends, but for better or worse, we’ve become zoom experts. So grab a phone or laptop and celebrate this one with friends and family you’re grateful for.
To help get the party started, we asked a few of the countries biggest bar aficionados to share their favorite Labor Day drink recipes with us.
Cheers!
Cocktail Recipes
The Rockwell
This recipe comes to us from Steven Baird, bar manager of Seabird at The Gateway in Salt Lake City.
1.5 oz. Lunazul Tequila (or any blanco tequila)
0.75 oz. Toadstool Notom (or any Amaro notably Campari)
0.5 oz. Strawberry Shrub cocktail mixer
Method: Build in a rocks glass with ice, orange peel garnish.
Cucumber Watermelon Margarita
San Francisco-raised tequila mixologist and Milagro ambassador, Jaime Salas (aka jthetequilaguy), believes nothing beats a great tequila cocktail.
2 Parts tequila (like Milagro Silver)
1 Part Fresh Lime Juice
¾ Part Agave Nectar
4 Watermelon Chunks
2 Slices Cucumber
Method: Muddle watermelon & cucumber in a Boston shaker, add remaining ingredients. Shake and strain over fresh ice.
Widows Peak
Dan Magro, mixologist and author of “Suck It Up: Extraordinary Cocktails for Everyday People,” handcrafted this elegant drink using white wine.
1 ½ ounce blanco tequila
2 ounces Sauvignon Blanc (Magro recommends Casillero del Diablo)
1 ounce lemon juice
1 ½ ounces blue curacao
1 ounce pineapple juice
Flower to garnish
Method: Combine all ingredients (except garnishes) in a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with flower.
Guilty By Association
Known as “cocktail ninja,” Trevor Schneider, a former New York City bartender and bar manager, now travels the country as a brand ambassador for Reyka Vodka.
1.5 parts Vodka (clearly he recommends Reyka)
.75 part Apreol
.75 part Lime
.25 part turbinado simple
Glass – Rocks
Garnish – lime slice
Method – Combine all ingredients. If possible, middle limes. Serve over crushed ice.
