There are a few reliable ingredients we expect to see on cocktail menus each fall: a preponderance of darker spirits like bourbon and cognac, plus baking spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. This season, though, Chicago bartenders upped the ante on their new menus and reached for ingredients from the kitchen, including popcorn, marshmallows and pumpkin seeds. Whether sweet or savory, classic riffs or totally original creations, these drinks are the alcoholic equivalent of kicking a pile of crunchy leaves.
Lil Pumpkin at ($9) Two
1132 W. Grand Ave. 312-624-8363
Head bartender Graham Crowe worked closely with the restaurant's kitchen to create this frothy, spiced pumpkin cocktail. He heats pumpkin puree with cloves, maple syrup, anise and allspice-imagine how delicious that smells-and strains it to create a syrup, then shakes it with 8-year-aged Colombian rum, sweet vermouth and an egg white to create a fluffy, almost whipped texture. He garnishes it with cranberry bitters and a few small candied pumpkin seeds. The overall flavor? "Like pumpkin pie in a glass," Crowe said.
Ichabod Cranium ($100, pictured above) at Billy Sunday
3143 W. Logan Blvd. 773-661-2485
"I've personally always had an affinity for using organic things as serving vessels," said beverage director Alex Bachman, explaining his decision to use a pumpkin as the serving piece for this group cocktail. "Plus, flaming cocktails are big. It's a dramatic presentation that people respond to." Right-did we mention the pumpkin's on fire? Inside this flaming gourd, Bachman's mixed a slushy combination of frozen bourbon, some sugars, orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla, to which he adds egg, applejack, vermouth, lemon juice, sherry and an entire bottle of hard apple cider. With more than three shakers' worth of cocktail inside, this pumpkin easily can serve four to eight people. Worried about fire hazards? The staff promises to ladle the drink into cups for you.
Star Daisy ($13, pictured above) at Paris Club Bistro & Bar
59 W. Hubbard 312-595-0800
Cocktail director Paul McGee completely revamped the menu at the swank, French-inspired River North bar, which also saw a physical facelift this fall. Tucked between classics including fizzes, flips, Collins and royales, you'll find the Star Daisy, a cool weather number that combines gin with 7 1/2-year aged apple brandy, dry orange curacao and lemon juice. Elegant and simple, it's a great aperitif before a dinner of rich French fare.
Logan Square Is Everywhere ($10) at Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar
960 W. 31st St. 773-890-0588
While Jeppson's malort might be a familiar sight behind the bars in Logan Square, head bartender Ken Zawacki said, it's still an acquired taste for most. Using malort in place of Campari in this on-draft negroni riff, Zawacki is able to introduce drinkers to the bitter spirit in a palatable way. Simply put, "We're trying to serve malort in a tasty way," he said.
Cornbread Moon ($10) at Henry's Swing Club
18 W. Hubbard St. 312-955-8018
Taking its name from the title of a Joe Ely song about fall's arrival, this carbonated, autumnal draft cocktail begins with a bourbon base to which beverage director Michael Rubel adds bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, lemon and allspice dram. The most expensive ingredient in the cocktail actually is the maple syrup, but Rubel said there's no substitution for it. "It has tremendous resonance and depth to it," Rubel said. "It's been my go-to for years." Sip this one slowly and notice how the allspice dram draws out latent spice in the bourbon.
Pumpkin-head ($10, pictured above) at Chop Shop
2033 W. North Ave. 773-537-4440
Most of the components of this marshmallow-garnished pumpkin cocktail are made in-house, from the vanilla-, nutmeg-, coriander-, ginger-spiced autumn syrup to the vodka infused with Madagascar vanilla beans. This moderately sweet cocktail already is a popular after-dinner sipper, picking up fall flavors from pumpkin puree, hazelnut liqueur, pumpkin liqueur and half and half. A smoking, still-warm marshmallow completes the drink ... though beverage director Dan De Los Monteros said he can leave off this gooey garnish upon request. "It's more popular with the females, but I see guys taking sips of their dates' drinks and then they're like, 'Hey, can I get one of those in a rocks glass, but hold the marshmallow.'"
Amaize ($13) at Acadia
1639 S. Wabash Ave. 312-360-9500
The list of ingredients in the South Loop restaurant's cocktail is a bit of head-scratcher: smoked corn- and achiote-infused tequila, champagne vinegar, cilantro, popcorn syrup, lime juice and Kix cereal-coconut milk foam. But bartender Arunas Bruzas has no trouble reassuring skeptics: "It's interesting how the lines are blurring between food and drinks. This drink is a good balance between savory, sweetness, acidity. All those bases are pretty much covered," he said. "There is even that umami sensation, which gets me really excited about the cocktail." The corn-and-tequila combination is inspired by the region of southwest Mexico where maize or corn was originally domesticated; that area is just a short trip from Jalisco, where most tequila is produced. "It's like that saying, 'If it grows together, it goes together,'" Bruzas said.
Da Chicago ($13) at Mott St.
1401 N. Ashland Ave. 773-687-9977
One of bartender Davis Cox's favorite cocktails, a classic New Orleans drink called the De La Louisiane, sold so well at Mott St. that Cox wanted to create a fall cocktail that mirrored its herbaceous, slightly sweet flavors. And he wanted it to feel Chicago-centric. So Cox swapped the De La Louisiane's rye base for cognac, to which he adds suze and made-in-Chicago Letherbee besk, both bitter liqueurs that mimic absinthe's role in the De La Louisiane cocktail. A bit of China China-a liqueur made from orange peels-adds brown sugar and orange flavors before the drink is finished with Peychaud's bitters. But the cocktail needed one last bit of Chicago cred if it was going to live up to its name. "One of our bartenders, Mike, said, 'Wouldn't it be funny to do a Garrett's popcorn garnish?' It sounded a little weird at first, but it happens to work incredibly well with the cocktail. It's still fun and serves a purpose."
Dehumanizer ($10, pictured above) at Charlatan
1329 W. Chicago Ave. 312-818-2073
Head bartender Alex Gara's cocktails at this weeks-old West Town spot mirror chef Matt Troost's Italian dishes: approachable, but with thoughtful ingredients. Gara said he's been most surprised by the success of the Dehumanizer, a spirits-forward (quite literally, since there are no juices or mixers in the glass) combination of rye, dark rum, amaro Montenegro, Angostura bitters, grapefruit bitters and grapefruit oil. "It's not going for anything aesthetic. There's no garnish," Gara said. "It's got that rock 'n' roll in there, though. And we're selling hundreds of them a week." It's a fittingly no-nonsense, serious fall sipper with a bit of an Italian flair from the amaro, and Gara promised that while other cocktails might rotate off the menu, this one's here to stay.
kbernot@tribune.com | @redeyeeatdrink