Apotheke: Modern Medicinal Cocktails

By Christopher Tierney and Erica Brod

Discover the techniques behind crafting your favorite concoctions from this first and only compilation of the renowned Formula List creations from Apotheke, the original New York City cocktail apothecary that applies mixology to the world of plant science wellness.

With its 1800s-Parisian-absinthe-den vibe combined with an air of opium-den secrecy, Apotheke is a unique urban apothecary that provides a multi-sensory experience for its clientele.  Talented botany-minded mixologists, dressed in lab coats labeled “Dispensing Chemist,” experiment behind the glowing marble bar with local and exotic herbs, botanicals, and tinctures. Much like herbalists and apothecaries have done for thousands of years, they balance science, art, and flavor cultivating healing ingredients in boundary-shattering cocktail formulas that offer the amazing healing power of plants. 

In Apotheke, the creators of the popular speakeasy with locations in Manhattan and Los Angeles share their holistic approach to drinking well, delving into the use of alcohol as medicine, the story of the establishment’s creation, and exploring the signature house-made ingredients; local and organic botanicals, tinctures, and produce; and ancient healing herbal combinations that have put the storied speakeasy on the map.

With a beautiful design that echoes the award-winning décor of their establishments, this modern wellness handbook also features the first-ever compilation of fifty of Apotheke’s renowned Formula List creations to recreate the flavorful medicinal mixology of Apotheke at home, with recipes such as Kale in Comparison, Forlorn Dragon, Sitting Buddha, and Paid Vacation.

Cheers to good health!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Feb 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062995254

Book preview

The Apotheke NYC entrance is marked by subtle signage hinting at our apothecary roots.

Dedication

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This book is dedicated to all spirits

who appreciate the craft

and the natural wonders of plants.

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Austria-Hungary’s coat of arms was the inspiration for Apotheke’s brand icon.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Introduction

A New Concept Flickers to Life

The Bloody Angle and the New York Tong Wars

Apotheke’s Interior

Apotheke West Coast

Part I: Alcohol Therapy: Roots, Remedies & Rationale

Chapter 1

Roots: The Power of Plants

Adding Alcohol to the Medicinal Mix

Happy Accidents + Alchemical Experimentation = Spirits

Benefits of the Apotheke Cocktail

The Wonder of Bitters

Apotheke: Rooted in Plant-Based Medicine

Rise of the Apothecary

To Whom or What Can We Thank for the Cocktail?

Chapter 2

Remedies: The Making of a Modern Cocktail Apothecary

Base Spirits

Brandy

Gin

Tequila

Mezcal

Rum

Vodka

Whiskey

Goggins Hour

Number Three Hold the Hash Browns

Behind the Bar

Absinthe, the Illustrious Green Fairy

Chapter 3

Rationale: The Art of Crafting the Apotheke Cocktail

Types of Taste

Aroma

Touch: Astringency

Creative Process

APO Bitters with Benefits

Part II: The Formulas: Apotheke’s Cocktails

Chapter 4

Health & Beauty

Tainted Love

Queen of Spades

Good for the Gander

Kale in Comparison

Airborne

Kiwi’s Playhouse

Stolen from Eden

Siamese Twin

Chapter 5

Aphrodisiacs

Deal Closer

Hollywood Antoinette

Forlorn Dragon

Hand in Hand

Dr. Ruth

Pillow Talk

Vanilla-Saffron Old-Fashioned

Stunt Double

Chapter 6

Stress Relievers

Pink Panther

Miracle of Mazunte

Kiss in the Shadow

Red-Handed Howler

Sunburned Hand of the Man

Catcher in the Rye

Sitting Buddha

Cosmonaut

Sundara Sour

Chapter 7

Stimulants

Angeleno’s Way

Paid Vacation

Matador

Dead Poet

Coffee and Cigarettes

Third Rail

Two Jakes

Greenseer

Chapter 8

Painkillers

Sleepy Hollow

Pygmy Gimlet

Nuvem de Terra

Wind Blossom

Huntsman

Path of the Righteous

Walter White

A Daisy If You Do

Dragonfly

Chapter 9

Euphorics

Devil’s Playground

Il Tabarro

Devil May Care

Tokyo Drift

The Diomed

High Plains Drifter

Land War in Asia

Siren’s Call

Compendium

Basics

Ginger Mix

Ginger Water

Lemon Verbena Simple Syrup

Simple Syrup

Heavy Simple Syrup

Sour Mix

Cordials

Ancho Chili Cordial

Honey-Chamomile Cordial

Orange Cordial

Lavender Cordial

Shrub

Pomegranate Shrub

Tinctures

Bilberry Tincture

Habanero Tincture

Hibiscus Tincture

Purées

Blackberry-Açaí Purée

Blueberry–Dragon Fruit Purée

Butternut Squash Purée

Cantaloupe Purée

Cantaloupe-Banana Purée

Cucumber-Seaweed Purée

Fig Purée

Guava–Blood Orange Purée

Honeydew Purée

Honeydew-Spirulina Purée

Kale-Pineapple Purée

Kiwi-Pandan Purée

Mango Lassi Purée

Nectarine–Golden Beet Purée

Passion Fruit Purée

Peach Purée

Pineapple Purée

Plum-Cardamom Purée

Prickly Pear Purée

Prickly Pear–Dragon Fruit Purée

Shiso–Taro Root Purée

Strawberry Purée

Strawberry, Watermelon, and Arugula Purée

Infusions

Activated Charcoal–Infused Vodka

Barley-Infused Rye

Basil-Infused Mezcal

Beet-Infused Gin

Buddha’s Hand–Infused Gin

Cilantro-Infused Tequila

Coffee-Infused Scotch

Dandelion-Infused Pisco

Duck Bacon Fat–Infused Scotch

Espresso, Black Walnut Husk, and Allspice–Infused Bourbon

Eucalyptus-Infused Vodka

Jasmine Tea and Sake–Infused Vodka

Lapsang Souchong Tea–Infused Gin

Lavender-Infused Vodka

Lemongrass-Infused Vodka

Maca-Infused Rum

Milk Thistle–Infused Vodka

Rosemary-Infused Vodka

Sencha Tea Mezcal

Sundara-Infused Gin

Thyme-Infused Rum

Vanilla-Infused Cognac

Vanilla and Saffron–Infused Bourbon

Smoked

Hickory-Smoked White Peach Purée

Hickory-Smoked Pineapple Purée

Palo Santo–Smoked Rum

Dry Mixes

Curry Salt

Ground Pistachios Mix

Sambuca and Anise Sea Salt

Sesame and Anise Sea Salt

Acknowledgments

Selected Bibliography

Index

Photography Credits

About the Authors

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introduction

FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, WE AT APOTHEKE HAVE BEEN testing, tasting, creating, and collaborating; mixing chemistry with artistry; blending creativity with craft to offer our patrons excellence in the form of a cocktail. This book tells the story of Apotheke—old-world apothecary roots utilizing modern medicinal mixology. Born on the quiet streets of the Bloody Angle in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Apotheke is now a bustling brand and one of the most notorious cocktail bars in New York City and beyond. An award-winning LA location opened in January 2018, and a second Manhattan location is in the works.

Inspired by the rise of the apothecary in Europe and the artistic influence of absinthe dens in nineteenth-century Paris, Apotheke is the first of its kind. Upon discovering the unmarked entrance on a desolate alley-like street, one walks through a heavy solid oak door into an opulent, antique interior. At Apotheke, our medicinal approach to the art of mixology offers a truly authentic experience. Patrons indulge in a spectrum of specialty cocktails infused with exotic herbs, fruits, and functional botanicals. The thirty-foot, glowing marble bar illuminates the cocktail chemistry and award-winning aesthetic. In a production where the muddler has become the modern-day mortar and pestle, Apotheke is much more than a bar; it is a cocktail apothecary—elevating our patrons’ experience through modern science flair and innovative flavor profiles using healing, natural ingredients.

Apotheke’s unexpected and unassuming location has made it a sought-after destination and an immersive escape from the city. The 200-year-old wooden door and red velvet curtains are a portal into hypnotic, vintage luxury. The interior is a composition to a prolific past, a nod to 1800s Parisian apothecaries with an air of opium-den secrecy. Sumptuous and surreal, the experience defies and titillates the senses. Apotheke is an ode to the complex botanicals, elixirs, and herbs that have been used in remedies throughout time. We take an appreciative bow to the failed experiment of Prohibition, which legally codified alcohol as medicine and is forever romanticized in our collective consciousness.

Since opening in the fall of 2008, Apotheke has gained a global following of dedicated clientele and celebrity fans. The enduring popularity stems from its ability—especially notable in the Manhattan craft cocktail scene—to provide a multisensory experience with both style and substance. The mixologists, fitted in lab coats, take their craft seriously, pouring their energy and creativity into carefully selected glasses. They experiment behind the glowing marble platform with exotic, local herbs, botanicals, and tinctures—as ancient herbalists and apothecaries have done for thousands of years—until the perfect combination of science, art, taste, and balance harmonizes into a prodigious cocktail. Our Formula cocktails are divided into six sections based on function and ingredients: Health & Beauty, Aphrodisiacs, Stress Relievers, Stimulants, Painkillers, and Euphorics.

Apotheke: Modern Medicinal Cocktails equips you with all you need to bring your kitchen and bar together. We’ve selected fifty of our favorite proprietary recipes from both our New York City and Los Angeles locations. It is meant to be fun and informative with a dash of seriousness, and aimed to send you down the rabbit hole of medicinal mixology: crafting delicious drinks with love and quality ingredients. We invite you to experience firsthand the repertoire that took Apotheke from an experiment to an institution.

High & Mighty Brass Band has been making our Tuesday nights special for years, bringing high energy and good vibes as the full brass band pumps out pulsating beats that meld old-school funk with modern hip hop.

A New Concept Flickers to Life

APOTHEKE IS NEW YORK CITY’S ORIGINAL COCKTAIL apothecary. We got our start nestled in the heart of Manhattan’s historic Chinatown, on a tiny bent street with a violent history involving Chinese gang warfare, underground tunnels, opium dens, and hatchet murders. So infamous is Doyers Street that in the early 1900s, it earned the nickname The Bloody Angle for having more people die violently at this intersection than any other intersection in the country. At a time when Chinatown was known only for Chinese restaurants, massage parlors, and herb shops, Apotheke signed an atypical lease at the apex of the angle.

Chinatown is a jarring combination, at once unwaveringly local and intensely touristy. The Chinese community has successfully resisted pressures to alter the face of its neighborhood and bring in major new developments, so the enclave feels more like China than downtown Manhattan. Signage is mostly in Chinese, leaving one to communicate with hand signals to the butchers and fishmongers. The one thing it has in common with the rest of Manhattan is the density of people rushing through the streets.

During the day, people from all over the world converge in this slice of the city. Busy Canal Street and the surrounding streets are lined with shops selling kitschy New York souvenirs, and little plastic pools teem with battery-powered swimming frogs. There’s the occasional caricature artist on the street and the man selling bubble machines, relentlessly shooting shiny orbs onto the sidewalk. Exotic fruit and vegetable stands color the sidewalk. At dawn, parks are packed with elderly people practicing tai chi to traditional Chinese music.

On Doyers Street, cooks chain-smoke on stoops and cracking vinyl chairs under the dizzying swirl of barber poles, observing the excited tourists taking photographs. Visitors may catch a spontaneous performance by the street’s resident martial arts demonstrator: an elderly Chinese man often practices in the middle of the street, sometimes shirtless, sometimes taking a break, meticulously eating his lunch from a Styrofoam container.

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Doyers Street is named after Hendrik Doyer, a Dutch immigrant who arrived in the 1700s. He ran a distillery where the post office currently stands, and the street began as a cobblestoned horse cart path to serve the distillery.

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Doyers resembles an alley more than a street, and it is one of the very few with an L shape in Manhattan. A mere 200 feet long, Doyers Street’s sharp angle gives it a unique perspective. It is said that superstition is responsible for the street’s shape, as it was laid in this shape because straight-flying ghosts wouldn’t be able to take the turn. It is impossible to see the end of the street from either the Pell Street side or the Bowery/Chatham Square/Division Street side. (This provided an advantageous escape for Tong members post-massacre and -ambush.) The tiny street has a reputation that far exceeds its size, with throngs of tourists visiting daily to hear about its weighted history and photograph the attractions.

Sometimes two different tour group companies are on the street at the same time, the guides competing for who can be the loudest. They regale their groups with violent stories of the Tong Wars and the mystique of former opium dens and underground tunnels. They usually butcher the pronunciation of Apotheke (it’s pronounced Ap-o-teck), as is true of many new and returning patrons. However, this has somehow added to the attractive mystique of the brand. (Apotheke is