If a bartender wants to stay on top of their game these days, they’ve got to know about everything from bacon fat and charcoal to leather and quinine. Forget the dried flowers – what can you do with dry ice? The game is always changing, and no one can predict what’s coming next.
Lonnie Anderson, spirits and wine captain at Aerlume in Seattle, certainly had no idea what was headed his way when he was asked to create a cocktail for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington’s special event last year.
“I really like to challenge myself,” Anderson admits. “I enjoy making complex cocktails like English milk punch, which has been around since the 1600s, and takes three days to make. I like things with a story.”
His history assignment for last year’s event? Make a cocktail inspired by an iconic, beloved cookie that comes in a box you can only buy three weeks out of every year. His cookie pick? Thin Mints.
First called Cooky-Mint when they emerged on the scene in 1939, it didn’t take long for Thin Mints to become Girl Scouts’ top-selling cookie. A cookie that most people who know and love it will tell you has an incredibly specific flavor.
“In order to mimic the exact flavors of the cookie, you have to get the dark chocolate just right, and make sure the mint is predominant,” Anderson says. “Seattle’sBatch 206 mint vodka really helped me portray my vision. I could have used a mint liqueur, but I wanted to use a local, vodka-based spirit. No one does a mint vodka but them. It was perfect because I’ve been wanting to do a Girl Scout Cookie cocktail for a while.”
Anderson, who attended private school his whole life, remembers doing a lot of fundraising by selling all sorts of products. “I always like to support other kids who are doing that,” he says. “I buy Girl Scout Cookies to share with family and friends.”
This cocktail is also great to share, but you probably won’t want to. Come on, you don’t share your cookie Thin Mints, either.
Thin Mint Martini
Makes 1 cocktail
1 ½ ounces Batch 206 mint vodka
¾ ounce Godiva chocolate liqueur
½ ounce white crème de cacao
½ ounce simple syrup
Mix all ingredients with ice in a mixing tin, shake and strain into a chilled martini glass rimmed with chocolate sauce. Crush up several Thin Mint cookies, and dip the glass into the cookie crumbs.
