SEEING miniature tennis balls in your drink?
No, you haven’t had one too many. Those little green orbs of melon in the Honey Deuce cocktail are meant to mimic the volleying balls at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens.
Just as the Kentucky Derby has its mint julep, the U.S. Open now has a signature cocktail, the Honey Deuce. That’s the hope of Grey Goose, the company that just started pouring the blend of vodka and lemonade with a float of Chambord at the tennis tournament, unfolding now through Sept. 9.
“They were looking for something to turn this into a classic. Much like the Kentucky Derby, where you have a mint julep every year, we want to have a Honey Deuce every year,” says the potion’s creator, Grey Goose mixologist Nick Mautone.
“We settled on vodka and lemonade because we wanted something that’s going to be sort of thirst-quenching in the heat of the Open and is easy to produce. Then we gave it that topping of Chambord [a raspberry liqueur] for an extra-special summer kick,” he says.
What makes the cocktail especially court-worthy are the frozen melon balls. Not only do they look like tennis balls – “They have those fluorescent balls now, so we settled on a honeydew as opposed to a cantaloupe,” says Mautone – it’s a fruit at its peak in late summer. Freezing the melon lets it exude juice into the drink as it thaws, making the flavor more complex.
The $12 cocktail is served in a souvenir cup that lists past U.S. Open winners.
For beer lovers, the Open debuts a new brew dispenser from Heineken. The Major Tom is a jet-pack-style mini-keg that first appeared at an Amsterdam jazz festival in 1995 and has been making the scene at European concerts and sporting events ever since.
For beer-swigging tennis fans, the mobile kegs mean fewer trips to the concession stands and less to carry on the way back.
Ten vendors strapped with the customized backpacks full of Heineken or Heineken Light will be roaming the National Tennis Center grounds, equipped to pour draughts to thirsty customers in the Food Village and South Plaza. The packs have soft-shelled exteriors, insulated interiors holding three gallons of suds, and a CO2 system to dispense it – all for $7 per 16-ounce cup.
Heineken plans to bring the packs to other stateside events in coming months. But for now, the only place to see them is at the Open, where vendors will be toting brewskis all day long – except when they head back to refill.
Can you hear that, Major Tom?
HONEY DEUCE
Ice (crushed ice recommended)
11/4 ounces Grey Goose Vodka
½ ounce Chambord or another premium raspberry liqueur
Lemonade
3 honeydew melon balls, frozen
(To freeze melon balls, place them in a single layer in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer overnight or for as little as an hour.)
Fill a chilled Collins glass with ice. Add vodka, then pour in lemonade to half an inch below the rim. Sprinkle raspberry liqueur over the top of the ice, so it slowly trickles down.
Garnish with melon balls, speared on a long cocktail pick if you wish.