neyah white

Last week it was Cocktail Week here in San Francisco and I was lucky enough to attend a bunch of the events. The highlight was Thursday's bar school — a day of education. Since I'm an avid home mixologist, I checked out the House-Made Ingredients How-To taught by Jeff Hollinger, general manager at Absinthe, and Neyah White, bartender extraordinaire at Nopa.

In the drinks industry, both Jeff and Neyah are pioneers when it comes to creating bitters, cordials, tinctures, syrups, etc. The duo has made it its mission to bring back the craft of cocktail making one bottle of bitters at a time. To check out their tips for making bar ingredients at home and see a gallery of images from the class, read more

Today's Happy Hour cocktail comes from a restaurant in San Francisco called Nopa and was created by Neyah White, who some consider to be the city's best cocktail creator. Previously the restaurant's location housed a laundry business and the drink derives its name from this. I like it for its innovative use of basil. The recipe calls for a specific type of organic vodka but I made it with good old Grey Goose and it tasted just fine.

Washhouse
From Neyah White at Nopa

4 to 5 fresh basil leaves
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 1/2 oz. Square One organic vodka
1 sprig fresh thyme, as garnish

1. Place the basil, lime juice and the simple syrup into an empty mixing glass, and muddle with a wooden muddler.
2. Add ice and the vodka, and shake for approximately 15 seconds.
3. Strain through a fine strainer into a chilled cocktail glass, and add the garnish.

Makes 1 cocktail.