Artini is a monthlong competition among 12 of the area’s top mixologists to create the most artistic martini. This year, various pieces in the Corcoran Gallery of Art inspired the bartenders’ cocktail creations. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday through March 31, one competing drink will be featured for tasting at different venues from 6:30 to 8:30. Twenty percent of each venue’s sales benefit the Corcoran’s exhibition programming.
Here at After Hours, we’ll showcase some of the cocktails.
For more information about Artini, the featured nights, or to vote for your favorite bartender, go to washingtonian.com/artini.
Mie N Yu (3125 M St., NW; 202-333-6122) bar chef Robert Tinney has brought the Big Apple to Georgetown with his Fifth Avenue Punch cocktail.
Tinnley’s concoction is inspired by Richard Gordon’s “Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.” photograph. While the drink can be served individually, Tinney serves it in a punch bowl with an apple ice block.
“I was inspired by a lot of trips to New York City and by the Big Apple, so I decided to go with an apple-based punch,” Gordon says.
The cocktail offers a range of tastes, from the citrus of the lemon peels to the sweet apple liqueur to the bubbly aftertaste of Champagne.
If you didn’t make it to Mie N Yu’s Feature Night March 10, you can still get the drink at the bar through April 2 or at Corcoran Gallery’s Artini Night for $12 Thursday, March 31.
If you’re trying this cocktail at home, you can switch the Champagne for sparkling cider, but avoid California sparkling wines—they’ll dry out the drink. The lavender water can be substituted for lavender tea.
Fifth Avenue Punch
Robert Tinney, Mie N Yu
Makes one drink
2 or 3 Meyer-lemon peels
½ ounce lavender water
2 ounces Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac
1 ounce Thatcher’s organic apple liqueur
Piper Hiedsieck Demi-Sec Champagne
2 or 3 thin apple slices
Grated nutmeg or cinnamon
Place the lemon peels in a glass and add the lavender water. Using a muddle, press the water and peels together in the bottom of the glass. Add the cognac, the apple liqueur, and some ice. Shake. Strain the liquid into a ice-filled glass. Top off the drink with the Champagne. Garnish with apple slices and ground nutmeg or cinnamon.
