Cask him anything: República’s Scott Tipton talks fortified wine

Scott Tipton warns me, as he pulls down a trio of dainty, patterned Nick and Nora glasses from the high shelves behind República’s bar, that he is no expert on sherry. I think maybe he’s getting there, though. He’ll tell you offhandedly that he’s been known to take down a bottle of Fino with a friend or two in a single sitting. He likes it — even if, he says, other drinkers are still coming around.

“Sherry has this negative connotation in a lot of ways, with our parents’ medicine cabinets and that sort of thing,” he tells me. “For a long time, it was kind of forgotten about and misunderstood. It’s kind of funky by nature, and if it’s not properly stored or if it’s kept for too long, it goes bad. I think people didn’t know what to do with it.”

But over the past five years, Tipton says, bartenders have begun looking to the famous Spanish fortified wine as an alternative cocktail ingredient — a trend that has helped spark broader interest.

Tipton, who joined Bread & Butter Concepts (República, BRGR, Gram & Dun, Urban Table, Taco Republic, Ingredient and G. Berto) last June, pours me some information before he starts pouring the wine.

“To be true sherry, it needs to come from Andalusia, the Southern tip of Spain,” he says. “That territory is geographically unique. You’re talking about a different climate and completely different soil. Sherry is made from grapes that are unique in their own right. Palomino Fino is one of the main grapes, a white grape that grows in Albariza, which is a white, chalky, clay-type of soil there, very different than from other parts of Spain where you’re growing grapes for straight wines.”

From this CliffsNotes summary — which is already pushing my pen messily across my notebook — he goes on to explain that the biological aging sherry undergoes during its fermentation process involves a natural yeast referred to as flor. This element is what gives sherry its funkiness, as he calls it. Meanwhile, he neatly lines up three styles of sherry for us to taste.

We begin with the Alvear Fino, which looks pale, like a white vermouth. Tipton explains that this is the driest and most acidic style of sherry, but what hits me first is sourness: tart green-apple notes. The liquid is so light on my tongue that it takes another sip or two to find the salt and the nuttiness Tipton has promised.

Next is the amber-colored Amontillado Napoleon, which glints suggestively in its glass. This is an in-between sherry, Tipton says — I should begin to taste some sweetness, but not too much. Yes: light toffee and almond. But I tell him I could use a bit of body in my glass.

He smiles and pushes the third taste, Lustau Pedro Ximénez, toward me.

“Pedro Ximénez, or PX, is one of the more prominent sherry grapes,” he says. “I think it tastes like dark, hot fruit — almost as if you left raisins out in the sun and they developed all those sugars. This becomes almost like a sweet, nutty, rich syrup. You can literally pour it on vanilla ice cream as a substitute for Hershey’s syrup.”

And here it is: the thickness I’ve been waiting for. The PX has a sticky sweetness that some drinkers will find cloying, but it also delivers flavors to revel in: hot dates, blackberries, dark honey, even chocolate and coffee.

“Sherry is meant to be consumed with food,” he reminds me. In this case, he orders a plate of duck-legs confit, drizzled with a spicy mole, to go with the PX. I throw manners out the window and tear into one, washing down the fatty duck with a sip of the sherry. The match is sublime. Does the duck taste this good without the Pedro Ximénez, I wonder? I’ll never know — this is what I’ll drink with them from now on.

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We could end the adventure here, but Tipton — still a bartender at heart — is eager to try a new cocktail recipe he has been thinking about. Having sherry in a cocktail is, after all, the gateway to appreciating the spirit solo.

He says, “The culture now sees bartenders delving into the classic cocktails like the sherry cobbler and going, ‘How can I take that old-school drink that no one is playing with and make it my own?’ Which is where the fun comes in.”

Tipton first prepares a traditional cobbler, pretty and simple and properly 19th century, with sherry, fruit, sugar and crushed ice. His version features a blend of Pedro Ximénez, Amontillado Napoleon and Olaroso sherries, topped with fresh blackberries and raspberries; it looks like a grown-up sno-cone. I try not to finish it in less than five minutes, as Tipton slowly talks through a drink called Sangre Swizzle, which will appear on República’s spring cocktail list.

“Blood orange is in season right now, so I did a puree with that,” he says. “I want to use Manzanilla sherry, which is another type of Fino, and yellow chartreuse for some herbal spiciness. Then I made a raspberry cordial with a little bit of rosewater, which should help give it that dark color.”

Tipton does a straw test and shakes his head. “Too sweet,” he says, pulling a face and restarting. “More sherry this time, I think.”

The second Sangre Swizzle pleases him, and he floats a pour of blood-orange puree over the cheerful pink liquid. Thick lines of red run down inside the glass, giving a sort of blood-vein effect. It looks just a little creepy, but the flavors are bright and balanced. The sherry here plays the bitter partner to the sweet cordial, and I find myself smiling at Tipton as my college Spanish comes back to me and I consider the array of imports we have tasted through today. I bid him a flush-cheeked salud and head back into the day.

SANGRE SWIZZLE

2 ounces Barbadillo Manzanilla sherry

½ ounce Yellow Chartreuse

¾ ounce lemon juice

1 ounce house raspberry cordial (simple syrup, raspberries, rosewater, vodka)

Top with Pellegrino blood orange soda

Drizzle blood orange puree

Tipton: Combine sherry, Chartreuse, lemon juice and raspberry cordial. Stir with swizzle stick or barspoon. Top with soda, float puree, garnish with mint.

More Sherry

Sampling some of the better gateway cocktails.

Eagle Street

Doughnut Lounge

The Doughnut Lounge’s Eagle Street is a twist on a cobbler. Dominic Petrucci’s recipe uses Alvear Pedro Ximénez Solera 1927, orange juice, pineapple juice and Fernet Branca Menta (infused with cucumber). It’s served over ice in a double rocks glass, garnished with a generous sprig of mint.

Las Ramblas

República

Tipton’s Las Ramblas cocktail was inspired in part by a trip he took to Barcelona, where he spent time in the city’s party district of Las Ramblas. Featuring J. Rieger & Co. whiskey, Julie Ohno’s No. 22 coffee bitters and Oloroso sherry and garnished with brandied cherries, this drink sips like a Manhattan and goes down as smooth as a smile from that handsome stranger at the end of the bar.

Tom & Harry

Manifesto

The Tom & Harry is one of Manifesto’s three new hot cocktails, and the list of ingredients is rather dizzying. J. Rieger & Co. whiskey, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, egg, steamed milk, nutmeg, absinthe cream and East India Solera sherry come together here, and the results are both cheery and, if we’re being honest, totally dangerous.

Banana City Rollers

Extra Virgin

At Extra Virgin, bar manager Berto Santoro has introduced a tiki-inspired sherry cocktail. The Banana City Rollers features Plantation 3-star rum, toasted-coconut-banana gomme (a bar syrup with sugar, water and gum arabic), Alvear Cream sherry and lime juice. The whole thing is served over ice in a Collins glass and garnished with a fried plantain chip. Close your eyes, and you’re in the Caribbean.