Jay Geigley won our 2011 Best of Taste award for best bartender. He’s been tending bar at Poco’s Bow Street Cantina for nearly a decade, and he appreciates the seasonal variations of the job. “I like that it’s a good mix of heavy tourism in the summer, and then in the winter it’s a 100 percent local bar,” he says. “There are days where I know every single person who walks in the door.”

Geigley says he doesn’t have a particular favorite alcohol, but he does enjoy creating drinks with different vodkas. “I definitely like how flavored vodkas have changed how bartending works,” he explains. Lately he’s been experimenting with Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka. “It tastes like fresh whipped cream,” Geigley says, “and it mixes well.” Here are two drinks he serves at Poco’s.

Mexican Mudslide

Makes 1 serving

Adapted from Jay Geigley of Poco’s Bow Street Cantina, Portsmouth, N.H.

Geigley says whipped cream vodka is the ingredient that gives Poco’s Mudslide “a little bit of a twist” – that and Patron XO Café coffee liqueur, rather than the usual Kahlúa. “I like it better – it’s not as sweet, and there’s a stronger coffee flavor to it,” Geigley notes. He explains that the key to obtaining the decorative streaks of chocolate on the sides of the glass is chilling the glass in the freezer for at least half an hour.

1½ ounces Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka
1½ ounces Patron XO Café coffee liqueur
1½ ounces Baileys Irish Cream
3 ounces heavy cream
ice
Hershey’s chocolate syrup
Whipped cream

1. Chill a glass in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Pour the vodka, liqueur, Bailey’s, and heavy cream into a blender. Add about 1 to 1½ cups ice. Puree until smooth.

2. Immediately remove the glass from the freezer. Squeeze chocolate syrup down the sides of the glass in a decorative pattern; it should chill into place immediately.  Pour the drink from the blender into the prepared glass. Top with whipped cream and an additional drizzle of chocolate syrup. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Pie

Makes 1 serving

Adapted from Jay Geigley of Poco’s Bow Street Cantina, Portsmouth, N.H.

Geigley tops Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale, which Poco’s has on tap, with whipped cream vodka, for a very grownup take on the popular autumnal pie. He says servers will asks customers if they want to try it. “Gentlemen will say, ‘No, I just want my beer,’” Geigley says. “But if the lady tries it, they take a sip, and then they’ll order it too.”

Cinnamon sugar
12 ounces pumpkin beer
2 ounces Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka

Place cinnamon sugar in a shallow bowl. Moisten the rim of a 16-ounce beer glass, then dip in the sugar. Pour beer into the glass, top with vodka, and serve.

Poco’s Bow Street Cantina
7 Bow Street Portsmouth, N.H.
603-431-5967

Event consultant Michele Duval, former Wine & Spirits Director at Wentworth by the Sea, developed a special cocktail for our 2011 Best of Taste Bash coming up on October 14. The signature Bash Cocktail is made with ultra-premium spirits and topped off with New Hampshire’s own Farnum Hill Sparkling Hard Cider. It’s the perfect seasonal cocktail to toast the Best of the Seacoast. Cheers!

The Bash Cocktail
Makes 1 serving
Adapted from Michele Duval.

2 ounces Bulldog London Dry Gin
1 ounce Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
Farnum Hill Semi-Dry or Extra Dry sparkling hard cider as needed
lemon twist

Fill a martini shaker with ice. Add gin, ginger Liqueur, and lemon juice; shake extra hard. Strain into martini glass and top off with cider. Garnish with a lemon twist floating on top.

Makes 1 serving. Adapted from Emily Wetenkamp of Ten Center.

2      ounces Cabo Wabo silver tequila
2½   ounces fresh sour mix
½     ounce Stirrings Pomegranate liqueur
1      ounce triple sec
1      lime wedge 

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add tequila, sour mix, pomegranate liquor, and triple sec. Cover and shake for 5 seconds. Strain into a mixing glass. Garnish with the lime wedge.

“I try to keep everything simple,” says Chris Gansburg, formerly of Café Mediterráneo. It’s a philosophy born of 22 years of bartending experience, including five at his current venue, where the Italian food takes the spotlight and diners prefer straightforward cocktails before their meal. Not that Gansburg doesn’t enjoy experimenting: the Island Punch he created four years ago is still a big hit in the summer, as well as being Gansburg’s personal favorite. It’s a potent mixture of three rums plus orange, pineapple, and cranberry juice, a splash of grenadine, and a bit of Myers rum floating on top. Gansburg says he advises everyone to consume no more than two.

What else is popular now? Vodka, he says. “Everything’s vodka now. You’ve got 100 different vodkas on the market. I remember when a martini was just gin.” At Café Med, Gansburg, who turned to bartending for income as a 21-year-old college dropout, says his goal is to “make drinks based on what people want to drink.” And in the summer, “that’s got to be fruity.”

Gansburg also enjoys the way floral St. Germain complements wines, using it in a Chardonnay-based cocktail called the Prattini, with added tang from Absolut Citron and fresh lemon. The Tropical Cosmo is a blend of pineapple vodka, Cointreau, plus cranberry, pineapple, and lime juices.

Prattini

Makes 1 serving. Adapted from Chris Gansburg formerly of Café Mediterráneo.

3 ounces Chardonnay
2 ounces St. Germain Elderflower liqueur
1 ounce Absolut Citron
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Splash soda water, chilled
Lemon twist

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add Chardonnay, St. Germain, Citron, and lemon juice. Shake vigorously. Strain into chilled a martini glass, top with soda water, and garnish with the lemon twist.