When you stop to think about it, what is gin but a concoction of juniper berries and other botanicals like coriander and citrus peel?
Of course, there is a base spirit, which gives gin its kick, but in the end, nature provides gin its distinctive puckery, citrusy tang. Paired with a splash of tonic water – made from quinine, the bark of a plant – a G&T is so refreshing on a steamy summer night.
But botanicals lie not only at the very heart of liquors but can jazz them up in a mixed drink.
And that’s exactly what Liz Aubry, bartender at Mt. Airy’s Bar Lizette, wants you to understand. It’s something she has thought about a good deal, and she will share her expertise – and a few satisfying drinks – in a special class at the Morris Arboretum & Gardens on Sunday, May 3, at 6 p.m. Spirit bases will be provided, together with some botanical ingredients and recipes, and attendees will learn to mix their own springy cocktails.
“At its core, every drink starts with a plant,” Aubry, a bartender for 15 years, explains. “Anything distilled like gin, wine, whiskey and beer, has roots in botany. There are obviously a lot of ingredients you can use that are botanicals or flowers and vegetables.”
Aubry’s appreciation for botanicals in alcoholic drinks has its roots, if you’ll forgive the pun, in cooking. Making those drinks is like cooking, “where you pair things together more often,” she says. “You start to figure out what you like and what works well together. I think I pull a lot of inspiration more from culinary recipes than cocktail recipes. It makes things more approachable while using ingredients in a different well. Especially right now, we put a new bar menu out at Bar Lizette, and it’s been really fun to look at seasonal ingredients and then figure out what we can put together that might be unexpected, but they work. It’s a really natural progression. It’s a lot of intuition at this point, but I’m also constantly looking at recipe books for foods. I know the flavor profiles of different spirits, so I can glean what’s going to work well together.”
People who attend the botanical mixology class at Morris will be in for some tasty surprises. In Aubry’s class last spring, attendees learned to make a dandelion cocktail, which, she says, “was really good.” And, of course, there were several other drinks.
“We look at botanicals and fruits, vegetables and herbs,” she says. “And then I try to put drinks together that are easy for people to make at home or use ingredients that are easy to get. So either they’re growing them or they can buy them at the store.”
Because the class is in early May, it’s toeing the line between late spring and early summer. Aubry tries to incorporate ingredients that people are planting or what’s growing in their gardens at the time.
The spirits that provide the base for the cocktails include vodka, gin, whiskey and some botanical-based aperitifs like Amaretto and the elderflower-based liqueur St-Germain will also be provided.
Aubry has been teaching cocktail classes for Mt. Airy Learning Tree for a few years. A Morris intern noticed the classes in the MALT catalog, visited the restaurant and asked whether she had any interest in bringing her expertise to the arboretum.
It turns out, botanical mixology is well aligned with Morris’s mission, according to Stephanie Bruneau, assistant director of adult education.
“We have a number of culinary classes here at Morris,” she says. “Our mission in the education department is to connect plants, people and place. And food is such a great way to connect people to plants because it’s one way that we connect with plants every day. And when you become aware and excited by what you’re eating and what’s seasonal, then you are paying more attention to what’s growing in our landscape, and our connection with plants around us and the natural world grows and becomes stronger. So this is an easy and fun way to work toward our educational mission.”
Bruneau says Aubry’s expertise complements that mission. Not to mention her creativity. For example, in a previous class, Aubry taught students how to make gin infused with cucumber and a strawberry rhubarb drink.
Aubry provides a handout for students, and they learn about different types of drinks and cocktail families – like the difference between a highball and a sour. Then she introduces different mixers and modifiers, like bitters or sweeteners. She talks about the difference in taste among different spirits, like rum, whiskey or gin, and how to make distinctive drinks using all of that knowledge.
Whether you come alone or with friends, you’ll get to know each other as you split up into groups. “You’ll find yourself at a table with others, working together to decide which ingredients to add, based on Liz’s guidance, and then everybody tastes,” Bruneau says.
Capping off your evening is a stroll to the Out on a Limb Tree Canopy Walk, drink in hand, to watch the sun go down. It’s a sweet date night, she says.
The class is limited to between 20 and 25 people. Bruneau expects it to sell out fast. Feel free to bring crackers and cheese and make a night of it. The class is for people ages 21 and up, of course. You won’t be disappointed.
“She’s just a fantastic instructor,” Bruneau says. “To be an excellent bartender, you have to be good at your craft, but there’s a social element, too. There’s a big overlap in skill set between being an engaging instructor and being a good bartender. She’s good at her craft of mixing drinks and the creativity behind that, but she is also kind and funny and personable in a way that our students really admire and appreciate.”
To learn more, call 215-247-5777 extension 426. Admission is $60 for members and $65 for non-members.
