Pairing Sunsets and Cocktails

Sunsets on the Sun Coast of Florida are spectacular! Laurie and I have started a new tradition of enjoying our daily sunsets out on our lanai with a cocktail or glass of wine in hand. In fact, we have been enjoying this new tradition so much that I decided to create a new cocktail for the occasion – I call it the Sarasota Sunset Martini and hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Over the 23 years Laurie and I have been married, we have taken the time to actually sit down and enjoy watching a sunset perhaps a dozen or so times, usually while we are on vacation in some sunny spot on the beach. So, imagine my surprise on our first evening in our new home in Sarasota when we were sitting out on our lanai after an exhausting day of unpacking and saw a drop-dead gorgeous sunset play out over the span of about 45 minutes. The sky changed from blue to yellow to pink to bright orange over time, and we couldn’t take our eyes off of the spectacle. Even better, we get treated to this show almost every evening, at least in the winter when it rarely rains, and storm clouds are hard to find.

We decided to start a new tradition of meeting out on our lanai each evening before we start dinner to enjoy a glass of vino or a homemade cocktail while watching the sun set. It got me thinking that I wanted to create a cocktail not only to enjoy during those moments, but also one that captured the spirit of the occasion – sunsets in paradise! A few days before I had this thought Laurie had enjoyed a classic martini at one of our favorite restaurants, so I decided to riff off of that cocktail and create my own version of a “Floridized” martini – the “Sarasota Sunset” Martini.

The classic martini was originally a gin-based drink made up of two parts gin, one part vermouth, with a twist of lemon or olive as a garnish. Usually stirred, not shaken (sorry James Bond, …), martinis are also made with vodka as the base spirit and come in both “wet” and “dry” styles. A dry martini has more gin or vodka and less vermouth (the 2:1 gin to vermouth ratio I just mentioned would be classified as a dry martini) while extra dry martinis have little to no vermouth – just gin or vodka and a garnish served very cold in a chilled martini glass. A wet martini contains, you guessed it, more vermouth – usually equal amounts of gin/vodka and vermouth.

For those not familiar with vermouth, it’s a fortified wine flavored with different botanicals (like roots, barks, herbs, spices, etc.) and comes in sweet and dry versions. It’s often served on its own over ice as an aperitif before or after dinner. For the classic martini, always use dry vermouth.

Many famous figures in history have opined about the classic martini and how one should prepare and drink it. For example, the famous playwright Noel Coward noted that “A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, and then waving it in the general direction of Italy, …” (from the article “The Martini – the Epitome of cocktail Hour Refinement”, The Guardian).

My version of the classic celebrates Florida by incorporating orange flavor into the mix using citrus vermouth and orange bitters (we love D’Orange Citrus Vermouth made by Momempop based out of Napa Valley and Angostura orange bitters, both available at larger liquor and wine stores like Total Wine). Since gin is the star of this cocktail, make sure to go with a good one. Here are three of our current favorites:

• Aviation Gin ($17.99 for 750 ml)

• No. 3 London Dry Gin ($49.99 for 750 ml)

• Brooklyn Gin ($39.99 for 750 ml)

And best yet, you can make this cocktail in under two minutes which ensures you won’t miss a bit of the sunset! I hope this becomes a new favorite cocktail for you – let me know what you think!

Sarasota Sunset Martini recipe (makes 1 cocktail)

2 oz. gin

1 oz. dry citrus vermouth

3 dashes orange bitters

Orange peel for garnish

Chill a martini glass in the freezer. Combine gin, vermouth, and bitters in a mixing glass with a lot of ice and stir with a long bar spoon for 30 seconds until chilled. Strain into the chilled martini glass and garnish with the orange peel. Wave the glass in the general direction of Washington D.C. and sip away!

You can also make this a slightly sweeter cocktail by adding ½ oz. of simple syrup to the mixing glass with the other ingredients before stirring and straining into the martini glass.

Let me know what you think about this cocktail. In the meantime, Laurie and I will drink a toast to you all tonight as we enjoy our nightly spectacular sunset on our lanai!

Sunset on our lanai in Lakewood Ranch, FL