This summer, OC got you Tipsy and Tan. Now, we're just getting you tipsy. Meet Fridays at Five, our cocktail series where mixologists at New York City’s white-hot new restaurants create OC-exclusive drinks for our readers. Drinking on the job? Don't mind if we do...
Boilermaker’s namesake drink might be a shot and a beer, but this East Village bar has also made a name for its boozy cocktails. Thank bartender Erick Castro for that—sure he can mix a proper old-fashioned, but more adventurous drinkers can opt for a gin-salt-celery Oceanside or the spice-tinged Cinnamon Wind.
Naturally, Castro’s eggnog isn’t just your standard egg/cream/booze-of-choice mix. Slightly sweetened with maple syrup and cut with amaro, Little Daddy’s Holiday Nog is hardly related to the cloying variations found at lackluster ugly sweater parties. Serve in a coup glass with a dusting of fresh cinnamon, and this PG-drink just grew up.
Name: Erick Castro
If this drink had a soundtrack, what would it be? “Soulful Christmas” by James Brown
Drink of choice: An old-fashioned—it’s clean, classic, to the point.
Hangover cure: A big bowl of pho.
Best date advice: Don’t judge a person on their drink, or prejudge what they might drink. Some people are newbies, some people are old pros, and some guys like raspberry Rambles.
Worst pick-up: Back in the ‘80s you would see guys hitting on the wrong girls on blind dates. Now it’s Tinder mismatches. Like they’re looking at their phones, standing five feet apart from each other, until they look up and they’re like “Oh, hey.” Your photo could not have been that accurate if you were standing five feet apart and couldn’t recognize them. They either end up making out, sucking face insanely an hour later, with zero shame, or it’s the exact opposite.
Craziest last call story: Once at a bar, we were getting ready to shut down, and a B-list celebrity showed up, like a B list celebrity 10 years ago. They were like, "Hey, man, can we get a few drinks? We’ll be really cool. So we let them stay. It just escalated from there. Next thing you know, people are doing cocaine, having sex in the bathroom.
What not to do to your bartender: Don’t play stump the bartender. We call them Jerry Thomases. A guest will come in and be like, "Hey, can you make me an 1865 improved whiskey cocktail from a French book that went out of print in the early 1900s? One guy came in and asked for a cocktail that debuted across the country four days ago. Luckily I knew the bartender at the San Francisco bar so I texted him, but really? We’ll make you anything you want, just be nice about it.
Exclusive Recipe: Little Daddy's Holiday Nog
OC Alcohol Scale*: 7
“It doesn’t overwhelm you, and it’s very festive. But once you have a few, you’re like, whoa.”
1 egg
1 oz cream
½ oz Grade B maple syrup
1 oz rye
1 oz Montenegro Amaro
Dry shake all the ingredients together, then shake with ice until frothy. Strain into a glass and garnish with freshly grated cinnamon bark.
*OC's Alcohol Scale ranges from 1 ("like sippin' from a juice box") to 10 ("take me home—right now")
Boilermaker’s namesake drink might be a shot and a beer, but this East Village bar has also made a name for its boozy cocktails. Thank bartender Erick Castro for that—sure he can mix a proper old-fashioned, but more adventurous drinkers can opt for a gin-salt-celery Oceanside or the spice-tinged Cinnamon Wind.
Naturally, Castro’s eggnog isn’t just your standard egg/cream/booze-of-choice mix. Slightly sweetened with maple syrup and cut with amaro, Little Daddy’s Holiday Nog is hardly related to the cloying variations found at lackluster ugly sweater parties. Serve in a coup glass with a dusting of fresh cinnamon, and this PG-drink just grew up.
Name: Erick Castro
If this drink had a soundtrack, what would it be? “Soulful Christmas” by James Brown
Drink of choice: An old-fashioned—it’s clean, classic, to the point.
Hangover cure: A big bowl of pho.
Best date advice: Don’t judge a person on their drink, or prejudge what they might drink. Some people are newbies, some people are old pros, and some guys like raspberry Rambles.
Worst pick-up: Back in the ‘80s you would see guys hitting on the wrong girls on blind dates. Now it’s Tinder mismatches. Like they’re looking at their phones, standing five feet apart from each other, until they look up and they’re like “Oh, hey.” Your photo could not have been that accurate if you were standing five feet apart and couldn’t recognize them. They either end up making out, sucking face insanely an hour later, with zero shame, or it’s the exact opposite.
Craziest last call story: Once at a bar, we were getting ready to shut down, and a B-list celebrity showed up, like a B list celebrity 10 years ago. They were like, "Hey, man, can we get a few drinks? We’ll be really cool. So we let them stay. It just escalated from there. Next thing you know, people are doing cocaine, having sex in the bathroom.
What not to do to your bartender: Don’t play stump the bartender. We call them Jerry Thomases. A guest will come in and be like, "Hey, can you make me an 1865 improved whiskey cocktail from a French book that went out of print in the early 1900s? One guy came in and asked for a cocktail that debuted across the country four days ago. Luckily I knew the bartender at the San Francisco bar so I texted him, but really? We’ll make you anything you want, just be nice about it.
Exclusive Recipe: Little Daddy's Holiday Nog
OC Alcohol Scale*: 7
“It doesn’t overwhelm you, and it’s very festive. But once you have a few, you’re like, whoa.”
1 egg
1 oz cream
½ oz Grade B maple syrup
1 oz rye
1 oz Montenegro Amaro
Dry shake all the ingredients together, then shake with ice until frothy. Strain into a glass and garnish with freshly grated cinnamon bark.
*OC's Alcohol Scale ranges from 1 ("like sippin' from a juice box") to 10 ("take me home—right now")