What is pommeau? What does it mean to dry-shake a cocktail? And how do you make a Lawn Dart, or a French 75?
The answers to these perplexing questions lurk in Tattersall, a new iPhone app released Dec. 7 by Tattersall Distilling, a dynamic, 2-year-old Minneapolis distillery whose co-founder Dan Oskey was a longtime bartender. He has sifted through cocktail recipes to cinch together 330 of them, both classic and modern, for the app's initial version; more will be added in 2018.
To be sure, there are plenty of cocktail apps available, but what makes this one stand out, besides being free, is how intuitively it guides the user. You can choose a drink based on occasion, difficulty or spirit, and each recipe combines a crisp photo by Alexander Zoltai with straightforward instructions. (While the app usually directs you to use Tattersall spirits, which are not yet available in New York, you can sub whichever gin, bourbon, etc. that you have on hand).
For armchair browsing, there are videos on techniques such as muddling and dry-shaking (shaking without ice); recipes for ingredients such as orgeat and rhubarb shrub; and a glossary of drink terms (for instance, pommeau is a cordial of apple brandy and unfermented cider).
While a Lawn Dart is a complex drink that includes both muddled bell pepper and aquavit, a French 75 is a refreshing sparkling-wine cocktail everyone should have in their back pocket.
