Almond's Plum Sake Mojito

By Douglas Harrington | 1 Comment

Almond Bartender Kevin Tunney muddling the fresh fruit for his Plum Sake Mojito. Photos by Douglas Harrington

Bridgehampton - I was recently alerted by Liz Kellogg that "Almond American Bistro has more fruit than it can bear." It turns out that large quantities of stone fruit had been dropping from trees behind the restaurant and the restaurant's master mixologist Kevin Tunney noticed overflowing baskets of peaches, cherries, plums and apricots in the walk-in and decided to develop a new cocktail program that features the locally sourced stone fruit in new ways

The four special cocktail sensations presently available include: Peach Mint Julep, Apricot Sidecar, Cherry Negroni and the Plum Sake Mojito. We chose the Mojito to feature in this installment of "Mixology" and let me tell you it was nothing short of magnificent.

I generally find rum too sweet for my taste, but this variation on the classic Mojito was clean, crisp and beautifully understated, yet rich in its fresh, natural fruit infusion. Tunney is a creative and clever cocktail chef and, thankfully, willing to share the recipe. So read on to find out how to create this soon to be a classic cocktail from the fruit in your own backyard.

The Almond American Bistro Plum Sake Mojito.

• First half and de-pit a whole plum and place it along with a sprig of fresh mint leaf, a fresh half lime quartered and a dash of mint infused simple syrup into a shaker glass and thoroughly muddle the ingredients.

• Fill the shaker with ice and add one and one-half oz. of Mt. Gay Rum and one-quarter oz. of Sake and then seal the shaker and shake well for 10 seconds.

• Fill a highball glass with ice and strain the liquid from the shaker into the glass. Add a splash of club soda, stir and garnish with fresh mint.

Ingredients:
• 1 ½ oz. Mt. Gay Rum
• ¼ oz. Sake
• 1 plum
• ½ lime
• 1 sprig of fresh mint
• ½ oz. mint syrup