There was smoke and there was fire at the monthly experimental cocktails class at Quantum Spirits in Carnegie, themed “Campfire Cocktails.”
But the warmest, brightest thing about the night was the personality of the professor, cocktail program director Melanie “Mel” Luke.
The tall wise-cracking platinum blonde donned her white lab coat, black-rimmed eyeglasses and a microphone for the 7 p.m. start of the class, which is held on the third Thursday of each month. She informed her students — regulars, longtime “no-see-ums” and newcomers — that the series is hitting its four-year anniversary this fall.
“Welcome,” she said to those who’d paid tuition of $80 for a table for two or $160 for a table of four for a demo, four mini-cocktails to sip and recipes to take home, plus an appetizer designed to go well with these drinks designed for fall and cooler, or campfire, weather.
“We’re going to start out nice and easy,” Luke told them, standing over a tray on which she’d arranged assorted beakers of “gorgeous fall-flavored vodka — so easy” and other pre-measured ingredients for the first cocktail: Spiced Applecious.
She poured them all into a shaker with “fresh ice” and then, with a super smile, shook it strenuously. Because she was pouring it into a stem glass and didn’t want any ice chips in the drink? Some in the class answered her prompt correctly: “Double strain it.”
She floated in it an apple chip for garnish, and then she and her colleagues distributed plastic cups of the same drink around the room.
She quipped that even the baby in the crowd could taste the peach puree that went into the next rye drink, The F-Ryer Pit, if her team hadn’t hickory smoked the batch they made.
Assembling that drink starts with giving the glass an absinthe wash, which she said she does with a little spray bottle so as not to waste a favorite and fabled liqueur of hers: “Bartender tip of the day.”
To keep things easy, as she likes to do, one could just add a drop or two of smoke flavoring. But after she shook and poured the glowing orange liquid, she placed the stemmed glass into a commercial cocktail smoker her colleague Jon Harter had set up and fired up on the bar. The glass dome filled with a light-gray hickory smoke, which poofed and rose toward the ceiling as he lifted the dome.
“Oh, look at that!” one woman said as she took photos with her phone. “That’s pretty cool.”
The participants’ voices competed with the sounds of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” as they sipped while also munching that evening’s appetizers — barbecued pulled pork on focaccia sliders and pesto chicken flatbread. Everybody was warming up.
“I’m going to press on, and we’re going to move to The Burn Barrel,” Luke announced to introduce the next cocktail. “Let’s stay campfire-y.” She didn’t smoke this one but, rather, stoked it with judiciously applied drops of Australian-smoked bitters. “It’s potent,” she said. “Unless you really like a smokey vibe, be warned.”
As students applauded, she used a long-necked utility lighter to roast miniature marshmallows on a stick to garnish the last drink, which she described as “similar to an old fashioned — a dessert old fashioned,” made with a graham cracker-infused house rye and chocolate bitters and named More Is’More.
Once again, she smiled as she shook. But then she instructed the class that this cocktail didn’t need to be shaken, because it contains no juice, and should have been stirred instead, to reduce dilution from the ice.
She gave a mea culpa but with one of her throaty laughs.
“I'm human!”
In between drinks and after, as she mixed and shook more drinks for students, who opted to stay after class, she explained how she likes to keep the class “relatable” and practical, for both students and Quantum Spirits. “It is a focus group, in a weird way.”
Missy Fortunato, of Scott, said that The F-Ryer Pit was her favorite of the night, in part because she was charmed by the idea of smoking peach puree. Her companion, Scott’s Dave Coopey, is a self-described “whiskey guy” who actually has a drinks smoker and knows how to use it, but he said his class favorite was The Burn Barrel because it stars Quantum’s barrel-rested rye.
Drinks people like can end up on the menu at the Carnegie tasting room and bar. Some have bombed, including all of them in a class called, a la Britney Spears, “Blend Me One More Time.” It proved impossible to get the ice-to-booze ratio right, but they still had fun.
A class that was perhaps a surprise hit was “Liquid Thanksgiving,” for which Luke made a side dish drink, a dessert drink and one called Liquid Stuffing. She insists it was good.
Other upcoming classes include Sweater Weather Cocktails (Nov. 17) and Holiday Traditions (Dec. 15). You’ll want to make a reservation.
Quantum Spirits: 230 E. Main St, Carnegie; quantumspirits.com.
Campfire Cocktails
Try your hand at some “campfire cocktails” yourself. All recipes by Mel Duke of Quantum Spirits.
Spiced Applecious
You can pre-make the vodka by steeping some chai (spiced tea) mix in the alcohol — the Quantum team used three tea bags in a 750-milliliter bottle — and straining off the vodka. The simple syrup consists of equal parts sugar (white or demerara) and water, in this case flavored with vanilla extract, a cinnamon stick and allspice to taste.
2 ounces chai-infused vodka
1 ounces apple cider
½ ounce vanilla spice simple syrup
¼ ounce lemon juice
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with fresh ice, shake, then fine strain into a coupe glass.
Garnish with an apple chip.
The F-Ryer Pit
You can add a drop or two of smoke flavoring to pureed peaches instead of smoking them.
2 ounces rye
1 ounce hickory smoked peach puree
½ ounce lime juice
½ ounce demerara simple syrup
Dash or spritz of absinthe
Rinse the inside of a Nick & Nora glass, or spritz, with absinthe. Pour remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker with fresh ice, shake and fine strain into the glass. For the experimental cocktail class, they smoked the finished drink inside a glass smoker.
The Burn Barrel
1 ounce Quantum Spirits barrel-rested gin
1 ounce Maggie’s Farm pineapple rum
½ ounce pineapple liqueur
½ ounce pineapple juice
½ ounce lime juice
½ ounce demerara simple syrup
2 dashes (or to taste) Australian smoked bitters
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and pour over fresh ice into a vintage rocks glass.
More Is’more
You can make the rye in advance by infusing it with crushed graham crackers.
2 ounces graham cracker-infused rye
¼ ounce vanilla liqueur
¼ ounce demerara simple syrup
2 dashes chocolate bitters
Mix all ingredients into a cocktail shaker, straining the rye to remove graham cracker, then stir vigorously and pour over fresh ice into a rocks glass.
Garnish with mini marshmallows on a stick, roasted with a long-necked utility lighter.
First Published: October 31, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
