How to Make an Amelia, the Vodka and Blackberry Cocktail That’s Classier Than Your Cosmo

It’s weird that the Amelia cocktail isn’t widely known as a modern classic. Go to your nearest cocktail bar and order an Amelia, and unless you live in the West Village (or otherwise specific neighborhoods in Sydney, Singapore, or Los Angeles), your most educated and worldly mixologist won’t have the first clue what you’re talking about. The Ameilia is, to be clear, arguably the most successful cocktail in arguably the most successful bar of the modern era, and yet no one knows about it. It’s weird.

Weird, perhaps, but not inexplicable. It’s not that the combination of vodka, lemon, blackberry, elderflower, and mint is wanting in any way for deliciousness or replicability. It might be because it comes from a unique type of cocktail bar, one in which the cocktails were never really the point. 

In 2004, a group of bartenders got together to open a bar in lower Manhattan that they ended up calling Employees Only (EO). For context, green chutes of the cocktail revolution had begun to appear around N.Y.C,. but it was still nascent and disconnected, and each had their specific purpose. “If you wanted to have a great cocktail, you would go to Milk & Honey, and it’s superb, but you [couldn’t] really meet anybody,” remembers Igor Hadzismajlovic, one of Employees Only’s founding partners, in a series of interviews celebrating the bar’s 20th anniversary. “If you’re hungry and it was a really good night, you’d go to Blue Ribbon, or if you just want to meet people and mingle, you go to a club. But there was never an excess of all these things in a single place.”

Employees Only was that place. The bartenders wore white coats like a pre-Prohibition hotel bar, but their demeanor was something like the opposite of the constrained stoicism of the bygone past. They made proper cocktails with fresh juices, but did so at tremendous speed and volume. They free-poured their ingredients, eschewing the fastidiousness of jiggers which was already becoming standard in the cocktail space. The new breed of cocktail bars were demure, sit-down only affairs, while EO was packed like a nightclub; the new breed of bartender was bookish and slight, more likely to offer the history of gin than the score of a game, while EO bartenders were essentially throwing the party every single night. It was loud, hot, energetic, and above all, fun. 

It’s been 21 years since it first opened, and while nearly all of its contemporaries have closed down, Employees Only is still going strong. Not only has it been a commercial success since opening their doors and among the first of the big New York cocktail bars to branch out to other cities, but they have the conspicuous distinction of being literally the only bar on the planet to be honored on the World’s 50 Best Bar list every single year since the list was created in 2009. 

This brings us back to the Amelia, deployed, according to their 2010 cocktail book, “to transition the Cosmo drinkers into our dangerous world of subtle flavors.” The Amelia is Employees Only’s most successful cocktail. It’s been on the menu in New York since the beginning, and is the only drink that is simultaneously also on the menu at all three other EO locations, in Los Angeles, Sydney, and Singapore. 

So again—why isn’t it widely known? It’s hard to say. Maybe because it’s vodka based? Maybe because in the light of modernity, the flavors of blackberry, elderflower, and mint are too obviously delicious to champion? My theory, as mentioned, is that EO was never about the drinks, not really, and to have one at home isn’t even close to a simulation of the experience of the bar. All the same—make one for yourself when you’re feeling like a bit of fun, and inch the volume up a touch while you’re drinking it. It’s not like being there, but it’s delicious all the same.

Amelia

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, and shake good and hard for eight to 10 seconds. Fine strain into a coupe or cocktail glass, and garnish with a mint sprig

NOTES ON INGREDIENTS

Vodka: It doesn’t matter what kind of vodka you use. 

I say that a lot, and I suspect some vodka fans out there roll their eyes at me every time they read it. Fair enough, but consider this: In the Employees Only cocktail book, they call specifically for Luksusowa, a 40 percent ABV polish vodka made from potatoes. OK, but the EOs in both New York and Los Angeles call for Grey Goose, a 40 percent wheat vodka, while EO in Singapore calls Wheatley, a 41 percent wheat vodka. These are all different. Because it doesn’t matter. Because it’s vodka. With all that being said, my editor did make me blind taste test vodka once for his amusement, so I’m not saying that all vodka is the same. But just use something that isn’t gross and you’ll be alright.

As for other spirits: Gin is the obvious choice. Pisco would work brilliantly. Rum and tequila would be fine, but not ideal. Make sure it’s unaged (clear) and go nuts. 

Elderflower Liqueur: This is a lot of elderflower liqueur, but not an unprecedented amount (see: both Maximillian Affair and the Quick Fix). The main danger here is that the drink becomes too boring and simple, and the quantity of liqueur certainly does help with that—you can dial it down to 0.75oz or even 0.5oz if you’re rationing, but I wouldn’t. The lushness is part of the point.

Mint: They garnish with a mint sprig, but the recipe itself doesn’t call for mint inside of it. I’m not 100% sure why. I think mint is strictly necessary as a garnish, the best weapon you have to prevent it from becoming too plain, and shaking with additional mint leaves even more so. It might be the mechanics of the bar—when you shake with mint leaves in a dark and busy bar, small bits of mint frequently find their way into the next drink unless you’re unusually assiduous about washing your tins. They also might just disagree. In any event, I like it with a bit of extra mint, shaken in the tin with the rest of the ingredients. Do with that what you will.

Blackberry: Boiron is the gold standard here, and is called for by name in the book. You can also muddle blackberries and add a touch of sweetness, to taste (probably 0.25 oz. simple, or 2 tsp. white sugar). The helpful folks at EO offer a recipe for a blackberry puree if you’re making this in any significant quantity. It’s minorly annoying, but once made, is certainly quick enough:

Blend to liquify, then strain and refrigerate. Keeps three to four days, or until it starts to ferment.