Make With: 

Any good single malt or blended scotch on hand, & Laphroaig. (Click name for tasting notes).

Penicillin

With cold and flu season upon us, we recommend this home remedy as the best cure for "whatever ails ya".  Liquid therapy comes in the form of the Penicillin cocktail from Sam Ross.  It tastes surprisingly complex for such few ingredients and the pleasant scotch smokiness does not overwhelm the overall taste of this drink.

Australian- born Ross helped his mother and sister open Ginger, a cocktail bar in Melborne in 2001.  Now in the U.S., he is somewhat of a Mixologist celebrity.  Ross was named a 2008 Rising Star by the great culinary insider's website StarChefs.com.  That light has not diminished.  Ross is master bartender at New York's prestigious Milk & Honey and Little Branch restaurants.  He also consults on bar and cocktail menus for new clubs, as far away as Comme Ca and Sona in Los Angeles.  Ross has raised his craft to an art form and is not afraid to experiment with scotch as a cocktail base.  For this we salute him and invite you to enjoy his signature drink.

ingredients

Makes 1 drink

2 oz. any favorite single malt or blended scotch (lighlty peated)

1/4 oz. Laphroaig

3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

3/4 oz honey-ginger syrup

Garnish with candied ginger

preparation

The syrup is easy to make using honey and slightly less than equal parts water into which you add large slices of peeled fresh ginger.  Boil in small saucepan over medium heat then allow mixture to cool leaving the ginger to infuse the mixture until it reaches the desired flavor balance of honey and spice.  Remove and disgard the ginger.  Strain into container.

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice.  Strain into rock glass, ideally with one very large ice cube (dilutes the drink slowly) and garnish with candied ginger.