The Heathman Hotel in Kirkland, Washington, has upped its cocktail game with the Hearth. The restaurant and bar’s craft drink menu was curated by mixologist Abigail Gullo, who brings her talents to the drinks program as a guest bartender and cocktail class educator.
Gullo’s inspirations for cocktails are always unique. “The Doctor Doctor cocktail was inspired by the cold remedy my mom used to use [maple syrup and ginger] and the fact that the Heathman Hotel and Hearth sit on the footprint of Kirkland’s first hospital,” she says. “We also like to honor the ghosts of our building’s past.”
In a time when appreciation for hospitals and doctors is of the utmost importance, the whiskey-forward Doctor Doctor couldn’t be a better drink to toast them with.
The libation is taken up an extra notch with the use of smoke. “When I tended bar at Fort Defiance in Brooklyn, I loved the little atomizers we put our absinthe in for Sazeracs — it coats the glass with the precious liquid, without diluting it and adds atmospheric and aromatic flourish to the cocktail,” Gullo says, adding she used the same method to bottle up some smoky scotch. “I could add a hint of smoke, without overwhelming the cocktail.”
Gullo goes local when making this cocktail, typically featuring Seattle’s Copperworks or Westland American malt whiskeys and uses the ginger liqueur from Portland’s New Deal. For creating the smoke, a kitchen torch and culinary wood (like an alder plank) will do the trick to smoke a glass directly. (For tips on smoking a glass at home, click here. If going the route of using liquid smoke, get tips here.)
Doctor Doctor
Makes 1 cocktail
1 ½ ounces American malt whiskey
¼ ounce New Deal ginger liqueur
¼ ounce maple syrup
2 dashes angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters
Rinse of smoky scotch
Garnish: orange peel, candied ginger
In a mixing glass stir all ingredients but the scotch over ice. Spray or rinse an old-fashioned glass with scotch and strain the cocktail in the glass over a large cube. Garnish with an orange peel and candied ginger.
