I’ve paired Hoshino’s Button Box with a cozy comfort cocktail known fondly as “The Flannel”.  I found this modern mix online last year and have no idea who invented it, so there goes all my usual history lessons through cocktail lore.  But wait!  There’s more!  The Flannel appears to be a modified version of The Flannel Shirt, created by celebrity mixologist Jeffrey Morganthaler for the StarChefs Portland Rising Star Awards in 2011 to highlight Highland Park Scotch. 

The Flannel

The original uses scotch, as mentioned, along with Averna amaro and fresh cider.  It’s incredibly delicious, in case you were wondering.  The Flannel (no shirt, which in this case still gets you service) uses cognac, skips the amaro, uses the cider as a syrup and swaps lemon for orange juice.  There’s some tinkering going on here with almost all of the original ingredients but the intent is the same and the result is also an incredibly delicious drink.  Either way, you can’t go wrong.  So stoke the fire, get out your softest flannels and pull up a comfy chair to set your butt-on.  Cheers!

What chilly December looks like in Houston

The Flannel Shirt by Jeffrey Morgenthaler

1 ¾ oz Scotch

1 ½ oz fresh apple cider

½ oz Averna amaro

¼ oz fresh lemon juice

1 tsp rich Demerara syrup

½ tsp St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Shake with ice cubes and strain into old-fashioned glass with cracked ice. Twist an orange peel over the surface of the cocktail and drop in the drink to serve.

The Flannel

1 oz Cognac

.5 oz Apple cider syrup

.25 oz Allspice dram

.25 oz Orange juice

For the apple cider syrup simple reduce by boiling fresh apple cider down to about ¼ volume.  Shake the ingredients together over ice and strain into a favorite glass.  Garnish with an orange twist.