SFist Drinks: The Improved Sunrise from Rickhouse

Rickhouse (246 Kearny), the recently opened Financial District cocktail haven by the guys who brought us Bourbon & Branch, is already drawing crowds in the post-3 p.m. hours after the markets close. The drink menu is twenty-eight pages long and takes you through every category of classic cocktail, from a Daisy (the precursor to a daiquiri or Cosmo) to a Martinez to a Scorpion Bowl, each served with the appropriate form of ice (block ice in the Tiki punch bowl, crushed ice for the Julep, etc), as well as contemporary variations, all with fresh ingredients.

Bartender Erick Castro wrote in to tell us about his improvements on another classic:

A while back I played around with a drink I called the Improved Sunrise, and since than I have received several requests and emails asking for the recipe. For those of you that haven't tried it, it is important to note that just as the name implies, the cocktail was directly inspired by the Tequila Sunrise. I have long felt that although the Tequila Sunrise had an interesting flavor profile, it always fell far short of becoming memorable due to such such shoddy ingredients.

What all too often passes for grenadine these days is simply high-fructose corn syrup with a little red #5 food coloring thrown in for good measure, and what most bars use for orange juice tends to be a flash pasteurized concentrate that was picked from a tree several years prior.