When My sister and I were in New York a few weekends back, we went to a members only old fashioned speak easy called Milk and Honey. Its a super exclusive hole in the wall, and we were lucky enough to snag one of their elusive reservations. One of the fun things they do is hand craft stunning cocktails in an old fashioned way, the tricky part is they have no menu. You simply describe what you feel like drinking to the cocktail waitress and she brings you a beverage.  Aren’t these drinks gorgeous?

One of the drinks we ordered came with a singular over sized ice cube – which apparently keeps your drink colder with less dilution. Of course I just loved the look so much I had to recreate this at home.

I filled up an old plastic craft box that had built in dividers with water, and let it freeze overnight. To get the ice out of the container, I simply ran it under water and then left the box upside down on a dishtowel on the kitchen counter for about 10 minutes until they slid right out. I then immediately placed them back in the freezer on a plate.

The cocktail its self is an attempt at a replication of one we enjoyed at Milk & Honey.  It called for bourbon but I substituted with scotch since that’s what I had on hand.  Along with it I created a syrup of sugar, lemon, lemon zest, fresh orange juice, ginger and honey. A glass of Scotch, a single over sized ice cube and a generous splash of the syrup is all that went in to this.

Syrup (enough for two cocktails):

3 tablespoons sugar

zest of a quarter of one lemon

One small piece of lemon flesh

a freshly squeezed half an orange

1 tablespoon honey

one small peice of peeled ginger

Place all of these ingredients in a small sauce pan, and add about a third of a cup water. Let everything simmer for 5 to 10 minutes then strain. Allow the syrup to cool, then mix with your spirit of choice, I think that it would mix well in many different ways – even in a glass of champagne!