Meet The Juliet And Romeo Cocktail: A Boozy Love Story
After spending time behind the bar at New York institutions that wrote the book on craft cocktails, like Milk & Honey and Pegu Club, mixologist and bartender Toby Maloney decamped to Chicago to write his own story. Firmly at the helm of his own enterprise The Violet Hour, Maloney set out to create a cocktail that would make people embrace gin. As he shared with Punch Magazine, "I wanted it to taste like a walk through an English garden," and he coined the cocktail a Juliet and Romeo.
Though there is an elixir in the infamous Shakespeare tragedy of ill-fated love, this play on a classic gin sour (similar to a classic gimlet) is far from poison. In fact, the finely tuned ratios that hit each part of the palate with botanical, sweet, salty, tart, and refreshing notes have firmly cemented the Juliet and Romeo as one of The Violet Hour's best sellers since opening in 2007. Maloney elaborated to Punch that, "It's as close to a house drink as we have."
How to make a Juliet and Romeo
Rather than a haphazard little of this, little of that approach, Toby Maloney's Juliet and Romeo is all about precise mixology. It blends an exacting combination of gin, freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, rose water, angostura bitters, cucumber, mint, and a pinch of salt, in a lasting and memorable coupling. You can follow along and make your own Juliet and Romeo as you mix, shake, pour, anoint, and garnish this unique cocktail at home. It's not complicated, but the ratios are quite specific.
@theeducatedbarfly The Juliet & Romeo is a masterclass on tweaking a cocktail into something wholly new. People get hung up on the idea that a cocktail is just a (fill in the blank) but with this instead of that. And in reality that's what it's all about. Every cocktail in the multiverse of cocktails comes out of just six recipes. Give this one a mix it's very worth it! #cheers #theeducatedbarfly #cocktails #modern #classic #sour #chicago #violethour
Perhaps Maloney flipped the play name in his ode to gin as a nod to leading with the romantic and floral notes of rose and other botanicals reminiscent of its female protagonist. Though the couple's tale did not have a happy ending, their demise did end the feud between their families, and the balance of this cocktail may be a testament to various elements coming together in a harmonious way as an homage to everlasting (cocktail) love. If the Juliet and Romeo has you ready to craft more crowd-pleasing cocktails, continue to expand your mixology repertoire by committing these three-ingredient cocktails to memory.