Brandy Crusta cocktail recipe

Take heed folks, we are in the company of cocktail royalty. That’s right, it’s Brandy Crusta time. Odds are if you’re not in hospitality or the liquor industry, you won’t know this classic cocktail, but not to worry, you will soon.

If you want to know your stuff, or at least seem like you do, this is the drink to be familiar with. Born in the 1850s, New Orleans, the Crusta cocktail is reported to be one of the oldest cocktail families in America, even predating the popular Sazerac.

The Crusta was first designed by Italian American Joseph Santini. Named for its sugar crust rim, the cocktail has often been referred to as the forerunner to the Sidecar and even the Margarita. But why do we regard the drink as cocktail royalty? Well, aside from its absolute boss taste, it is the fourth cocktail to be featured in the bartending book-of-books, Jerry Thomas’ 1862 Bar-tender’s Guide and that’s pretty special.

Unfortunately, it fell out of fashion in the 20th century and kind of disappeared into the cocktail ether. But it’s not all doom and gloom – today we’re seeing the Brandy Crusta revived and rejigged for today’s discerning drinker, and we could not be more excited.

A Brandy Crusta is not the simplest drink to make, but the pay-off is high. So, here are a few tips and tricks that’ll help you do justice to the royalty that is the Brandy Crusta.

The trickiest thing about this cocktail is its garnish. There are two techniques usually used to garnish this drink. The first and easier way to garnish is rimming the glass with sugar, then cutting a long strip of lemon, curling it up and placing it in the glass.

The second is trickier and takes a bit longer to do. First, find a lemon that fits perfectly into the glass you’re serving the Crusta in. Then, cut your lemon peel and place it in the glass, nice and snug so half of it is popping out just above the rim.

Dip the rim of the glass and the top of the lemon into the sugar syrup (as your glue for the next step). Then gently dip the rim and top of the lemon peel in the sugar. Allow this to set for half an hour. When it’s all crusty and the sugar is set, pour in your delicious cocktail. What you should be left with is a fantastic sugary lemon peel stuck in the glass for the drinker to sip from.

Our last little tip, which applies to any cocktail using a lemon peel, is to make sure all the pith (the white spongy layer) on your lemon peel is removed. Pith is really bitter and tart, and doesn’t belong in cocktails, so really work on scraping it off before garnishing your drink.