The New Rider cocktail

When I lived in the lower Mission in San Francisco, I had a friend several blocks away and our halfway point happened to be Beretta. This busy Cal-Ital establishment is frequented for pizza, but we usually just went for the cocktails and my favorite standby was the The New Rider. There's just something about this drink - somehow, it manages to be classic, yet still unique, bright, but cozy and it always seemed to be exactly what I wanted. In light of that, I set about making it at home. With some help from the Beretta bartender and using what we had available we came up with something that if not exactly like The New Rider at Beretta, it definitely is good enough!

• 3 parts rye

• 1 part fresh lemon juice

• 1 part Grand Classico or maraschino

• 1 part ginger syrup

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters per cocktail

• 1 large sage leaf per cocktail

Shake all ingredients except sage with ice. Serve up with a large sage leaf that has been slapped between your palms (this part is very important - get into it!)