Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Starlite’s The Stockholm: sweet, sour, and creamy

Vegan-friendly aquafaba gives the drink a silky-smooth mouthfeel

The Stockholm
The Stockholm
Jack Reynolds

They say you learn something new every day. Today, I’m learning about two things: aquavit and aquafaba. Jack Reynolds welcomes me to Starlite, where he serves up The Stockholm, named for aquavit’s traditionally Scandinavian origins. He describes the drink as being “like a classic lemon drop martini, but with a lot more flavor with the aquavit. And a really nice creaminess with the aquafaba.”

Place

Starlite

3175 India Street, San Diego

He first gives me the backstory. “This cocktail was originally created by our first bar manager, 14 or 15 years ago. And we were able to get this Swedish aquavit… And then all of a sudden, we weren’t able to get [that brand] anymore, and it just was never the same.” That was until they encountered Batch 22, a new American aquavit made locally. “Every now and then, you come across something that’s just perfect, a showstopper… you know you can make a great drink, if you have the foundation for it. So once I tasted it, I knew we needed to revive The Stockholm cocktail.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

With a fresh lead on a hard-to-find spirit, Reynolds was able to bring the recipe back — with one notable tweak. “We used to use egg whites, but now we use aquafaba, which is a vegan-friendly ingredient. It’s basically the juice that surrounds garbanzo beans in a can. It can be any bean — but apparently, garbanzo beans are more widely used.”

This addition gives the drink a silky-smooth mouthfeel. “Aquafaba is wonderful. We actually use it in some of our dressings on salads… It gives you that nice, viscous texture.” He thinks this also helps the cocktail to go hand-in-hand with food, particularly the chickpea battered greens appetizer, which he recommends with a chef’s kiss, saying, “It’s awesome, so good.”

A splash of lemon juice and simple syrup complete this straightforward cocktail. “We want our drinks to be simple. We want to showcase the spirit. We want you to taste the nuance of the aquavit,” says Reynolds. “Batch 22 uses a list of spices. I get coriander, cardamom… it’s almost like an infused vodka, essentially. The lemon and the simple syrup soften [the spirit] a bit, but it’s still very well-balanced, easy to drink, with a nice feeling to it.” Summing up the refreshing and quaffable cocktail, Reynolds adds “It’s sweet, it’s sour, it’s creamy, just everything at once.”

  • Starlite’s
  • The Stockholm
  • 2 oz Batch 22 Classic Gold New American Aquavit
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Lemon juice
  • 3/4 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1/2 oz Aquafaba
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail tin full of ice, vigorously shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Birdwatching bonanza, earliest sunset of the year, bulb planting time

Venus shines its brightest
Next Article

Time’s up for Doubletime Recording Studio

Owner Jeff Forrest is trading El Cajon for Portugal
The Stockholm
The Stockholm
Jack Reynolds

They say you learn something new every day. Today, I’m learning about two things: aquavit and aquafaba. Jack Reynolds welcomes me to Starlite, where he serves up The Stockholm, named for aquavit’s traditionally Scandinavian origins. He describes the drink as being “like a classic lemon drop martini, but with a lot more flavor with the aquavit. And a really nice creaminess with the aquafaba.”

Place

Starlite

3175 India Street, San Diego

He first gives me the backstory. “This cocktail was originally created by our first bar manager, 14 or 15 years ago. And we were able to get this Swedish aquavit… And then all of a sudden, we weren’t able to get [that brand] anymore, and it just was never the same.” That was until they encountered Batch 22, a new American aquavit made locally. “Every now and then, you come across something that’s just perfect, a showstopper… you know you can make a great drink, if you have the foundation for it. So once I tasted it, I knew we needed to revive The Stockholm cocktail.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

With a fresh lead on a hard-to-find spirit, Reynolds was able to bring the recipe back — with one notable tweak. “We used to use egg whites, but now we use aquafaba, which is a vegan-friendly ingredient. It’s basically the juice that surrounds garbanzo beans in a can. It can be any bean — but apparently, garbanzo beans are more widely used.”

This addition gives the drink a silky-smooth mouthfeel. “Aquafaba is wonderful. We actually use it in some of our dressings on salads… It gives you that nice, viscous texture.” He thinks this also helps the cocktail to go hand-in-hand with food, particularly the chickpea battered greens appetizer, which he recommends with a chef’s kiss, saying, “It’s awesome, so good.”

A splash of lemon juice and simple syrup complete this straightforward cocktail. “We want our drinks to be simple. We want to showcase the spirit. We want you to taste the nuance of the aquavit,” says Reynolds. “Batch 22 uses a list of spices. I get coriander, cardamom… it’s almost like an infused vodka, essentially. The lemon and the simple syrup soften [the spirit] a bit, but it’s still very well-balanced, easy to drink, with a nice feeling to it.” Summing up the refreshing and quaffable cocktail, Reynolds adds “It’s sweet, it’s sour, it’s creamy, just everything at once.”

  • Starlite’s
  • The Stockholm
  • 2 oz Batch 22 Classic Gold New American Aquavit
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Lemon juice
  • 3/4 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1/2 oz Aquafaba
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail tin full of ice, vigorously shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Next Article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader