Photo courtesy Fox News
For the third year in a row, Dr. Manny Alvarez and Chris Kilham celebrated the holidays by seeking out festive, yet healthy cocktails.
The pair headed to Chinatown in New York City to Apotheke, where the mixologists make their own herbal infusions and special botanical concoctions.
Dr. Nicolas O’Connor, a certified mixologist, was on hand to speak with Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com, and Kilham, The Medicine Hunter.
O’Connor, the head mixologist, said the bar’s name is a take on the German word ‘apothecary.’ All of his mixologists wear pharmacy coats.
Alvarez started out by asking O’Connor if these drinks would get him in the holiday spirit.
“Well, that’s the point of the cocktail,” O’Connor said, referring to the Snidely Whiplash, which is scotch infused with saw palmetto and red clover, sour mix, apple cider and pasteurized egg whites.
Snidley Whiplash:
2 oz. saw palmetto and red clover infused scotch
1 oz. apple cider
0.75 oz. fresh lime juice
0.25 oz. agave nectar
0.75 oz. pasteurized egg whites
2 dashes of bitters
pinch of cinnamon
“Remember, a healthy prostate is a happy prostate.” - Chris Kilham
For more information, read Saw Palmetto: A Prostate’s Best Friend.
Kilham said that saw palmetto is good for controlling the size of a man’s prostate.
And while Alvarez thought the drink looked a little ‘girly,’ he said the drink was delicious.
Next up, the pair tried O’Connor’s Bees Knees, which actually contains bee pollen.
Bees Knees:
2 oz. vodka
1 oz. fresh guava juice
0.75 oz. fresh lime juice
0.25 oz. agave nectar
0.25oz. Goji berry extract
03 pinches of bee pollen
“Bee pollen enhances energy and immunity, and in fact, athletes use it to improve performance because it’s so energizing and strengthening.” - Chris Kilham
“Ripe goji berries are oblong, plump and delicate. All harvesting is performed by hand, and must be accomplished with care, to avoid bursting the berries. Pickers pull the berries from the bushes on which they grow, and place them in baskets.” – Chris Kilham
“Bee pollen enhances energy and immunity, and in fact, athletes use it to improve performance because it’s so energizing and strengthening," Chris said.
Bees Knees also contains goji berry extract, which Kilham said is considered a life extender in Chinese medicine. Other ingredients in the drink include guava juice, sour mix and vodka.
After tasting it, Alvarez said Bees Knees was “smooth.”
“Kind of like a morning smoothie, with a back bite,” Kilham agreed.
For the third euphoric enhancer, O’Connor made what he calls a Deal Closer, which is infused with horny goat weed.
Deal Closer:
2oz. vodka
1oz. goat weed tea
0.75oz. fresh lime juice
0.25oz. agave nectar
4 cucumber wheels
5 pieces of mint
“The legend of the horny goat weed is that there was a legendary goat called Yin Yang, who had sex 100 times a day, and it lived entirely on this herb – horny goat weed. It’s a big Chinese aphrodisiac – it gets the mojo going.” - Chris Kilham
Chris said “The legend of the horny goat weed is that there was a legendary goat called Yin Yang, who had sex 100 times a day, and it lived entirely on this herb – horny goat weed. It’s a big Chinese aphrodisiac – it gets the mojo going.”
O’Connor said the drink contains fresh slices of cucumber and some mint, vodka, goat weed tea, sour mix and vanilla-infused cognac.
“This is the best drink I’ve ever had,” Alvarez concluded.
Visit the Apotheke website to learn more.