New York has always hummed to the beat of immigration. As the 12th oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States, the city has witnessed centuries of arrivals, bringing new ideas and change to the mainland. By the 1860s, over a quarter of its population was comprised of Irish immigrants, a period that is still reflected in the city today.
It’s thought that there are over 1000 Irish bars and pubs in New York City, and The Dead Rabbit is surely one of the best. Named after the Irish street gang that roamed Lower Manhattan in the first half of the 19th century, it’s a name that was once associated with criminals and violence, and today hangs above the door of one of the finest places to go for cocktails in the city.
Today’s Last Call was first discovered in the back rooms of The Dead Rabbit when co-founder and driving force behind the establishment, Jack McGarry, decided to conjure up an Irish twist on the classic Kentucky Maid. Swap the classic bourbon for a drop of Irish whiskey, add a little elderflower syrup, and you’ve got yourself an Irish Maid.
Sometimes it’s the simple mixes that hit the spot, but when dealing with a cocktail that bears few ingredients, it’s important to be particular. And since its inception, the Irish Maid has always been built around Teeling Irish whiskey.
When brothers Jack and Stephen Teeling opened Dublin’s first new distillery in over 125 years, one of their missions was to create an Irish whiskey that was both approachable and cocktail-friendly. Today at their distillery in the Liberties, just a short jaunt from the Guinness Storehouse and the banks of the Liffey, they distil just that, and call it Teeling Small Batch.
Hand-selected casks of grain and malt whiskey are first aged fully in ex-Bourbon barrels before being combined in Central American rum casks for up to 12 months. This unique method gives the whiskey an intriguing combination of vanilla, dried fruit and a little spice.
This unconventional process is partly what drew McGarry to Small Batch. The Irish Maid is built around a dichotomy, a blend of both traditional mixology and innovation. Teeling Small Batch is distilled the same way, blending traditional concepts with new ideas.
Where once, over 200 years ago, Irish immigrants arrived in New York, today bottles of Teeling Small Batch make the trip from Dublin across the Atlantic to play a part in a story that’s as old as the city itself.
So if you find yourself in the financial district, stop by The Dead Rabbit and try a cocktail, invented by an Irishman in one of New York’s most celebrated bars, based on an American classic but with an Irish twist, using whiskey from the first distillery to open in Dublin in over 125 years.
I’ll drink to that. Sláinte
Ingredients
— 2 oz Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey
— 0.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
— 0.75 oz Simple Syrup
— 0.5 oz St. Germain
— 2 Cucumber Slices
Method
Muddle cucumber at the base of a cocktail tin, before adding all the remaining ingredients. Shake and then fine-strain into a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with one of the slices of cucumber.
