Centering a Cocktail Around Maraschino: The Glass House

Conventional wisdom relegates some spirits to the back of the bus.  They might provide a nose or an aftertaste for a drink, maybe help balance other flavors, but seldom provide the dominant flavor.  Examples of such liqueurs that come to mind include creme de menthe, Gran Marnier, and elderflower liqueur.  At best they tend to share the stage.

Maraschino liqueur fits into this group.  With its very strong flavor profile, it tends to add a bit of complexity to drinks or balance other strong spirits like Green Chartreuse, which it dances with in the Last Word.  I've been wary of this spirit in the past, having been less than thrilled with the way that it seemed to knock certain cocktails out of balance.  I don't particularly care for the Martinez for this reason (and yes, I used actual Old Tom Gin).  Recently, I decided to try to build a cocktail around this maraschino and devised the Glass House.

The Glass House

Ingredients
1.25 ounces of Old Tom Gin (Ransom)
0.33 ounce of maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
0.75 ounce of fresh red grapefruit juice
1 dash of angostura bitters

Instructions
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity): 7

I think it worked pretty well.  The cherry flavor is still a bit bracing, not exactly sweet but very strong.  I think that the grapefruit juice succeeded in largely offsetting the sweetness of the maraschino and Old Tom Gin, which I used instead of conventional gin because of its louder herbal background.  If anything, I might in the future reduce the maraschino amount.

Versatility (when and for whom the drink works):  6
I would also put this drink firmly in the camp of cocktails to be slowly sipped with some contemplation.  While good, it is not an easy drink and not a casually refreshing one.  Sort of the equivalent of watching Mad Men or Breaking Bad (though not to say this cocktail should be as well regarded as they are - perhaps Boardwalk Empire is the better comparison.)  Further, I think a lot of people aren't real big on cherry flavor in anything other than cherries.  Such people, including my wife, might struggle to enjoy this cocktail.

Hassle (Cost and Time):  6
The drink was fairly expensive, using both Old Tom Gin and Luxardo and took a moderate amount of time to make with the juicing.

Overall:  6.5
This is an interesting drink and one that features some unusual flavors and combinations to reasonably good effect.  It is challenging and not accessible to everyone. 

Potential Modifications
I might lower the maraschino a bit.  I also think that white grapefruit juice, with a stronger and more bitter taste might better balance the cocktail.  Such balancing would essentially change its nature of the cocktail to one that balances two strong flavors instead of one that surrounds one strong one.

Explorations of a Stubborn Spirit: Beyond the Pimm's Cup

Certain spirits are inherently tied to a specific cocktail and lack a whole lot of ink on what else to do with them.  For instance, you aren't going to find a lot of recipes for pisco beyond the Pisco Sour.  Pimm's is kind of like that.  I like the spirit.  It has both sweet and savory elements and is more of a subtle than a powerful spirit.  I wanted to make something with it that was a bit boozier than the Pimm's Cup but maintained the sweet/herbal balance.  I've tried doing so before with very mixed results, including a cocktail that thanks to some celery bitters, ended up tasting like a Bloody Mary.

Pimm's Sipper

Ingredients
2 ounces of old Tom gin (Ransom)
0.5 ounce of Pimm's
0.5 ounce of dry vermouth (Nolly Prat)
0.75 ounce of lemon juice

Directions
Shake ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon peal.

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity):  6.5
This drink hammers the savory notes with the Old Tom Gin being the dominant flavor but the vermouth adding some bitterness.  It does not feel as balanced as I might like but picks a direction and goes with it in a fairly coherent manner.  It's pretty strong as a general matter but the flavors seem to complement each other.  I actually enjoyed it a bit more as I drank it after a first swallow that was kind of startling.

Versatility (when and for whom the drink works):  6

I would classify this drink as "challenging" much as I would a Negroni so I'm not sure how many people would enjoy it.  On the plus side, I think it works in a lot of settings and is not strictly a patio drink like the Pimm's Cup.

Hassle (cost and time):  8

This drink is not a lot of trouble to make beyond squeezing some lemon juice.  The old tom gin, which I think is essential given its much more herbal flavor than London dry gin, is pretty pricey but the other ingredients are cheap.

Overall:  6.5

I'm not sure what to make of this drink.  It was pretty challenging but I like the intense and multifaceted herbal flavors.  I think the lemon was also important (I tried making it as a martini without the lemon but it tasted muddled).

Potential Improvements

I might try using sweet as opposed to dry vermouth which could make it more accessible.  Using lemon bitters might work as well.

Explorations in Sloe Gin: Sipping the English Countryside

Since purchasing a bottle of sloe gin a while back, most of the resulting cocktails have have been relatively light and citrus based, like a Cloudy Sky (sloe gin, lime, and ginger ale) or a sloe gin fizz (sloe gin, soda water, simple syrup, and lemon juice).  These are very tasty drinks but not particularly complex and pretty thin on the alcohol front.  I wanted to try or create drinks that were a bit more challenging or at least stronger.

The first of a couple of half-sized drinks that I made was simply called the Sloe Gin Martini, found though the wonders of the internets.  I wouldn't call it a martini, as there is no gin (no, sloe gin is not gin) but it seemed interesting regardless.  I stirred rather than shook it but otherwise followed the recipe.

Sloe Gin Martini

Ingredients
3 ounces of sloe gin (Plymouth)
1 ounce of dry vermouth (Nolly Pratt)
4 dashes of Angostura bitters

Directions
Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist.


Outcome
Pretty good.  The first thing that hit me was the sweetness of the sloe gin, which had me thinking "uh oh."  But before the sweetness could get too intense, in the mid swallow the bitters and vermouth came to the fore.  The drink turns out to be well balanced, if a bit light.  This drink got good reviews from my wife, who drank the bulk of it, and I think would work for a pretty diverse crowd.  Given the amount of sugar, I'm not sure if you would want more than one, but it was a relaxing spring beverage, though not as sweet as most cocktails with sloe gin.  Another plus was that it was really quick to make, involving relatively few ingredients and no syrups, juicing, muddling, or any such nonsense.

The second sloe gin cocktail, which I came up with, was a bit stronger and more complex.

English Accent

Ingredients
2 ounces of sloe gin
1 ounce of old tom gin (Ransom)
1 ounce of lemoncello (homemade and relatively strong)

Directions
Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lime wedge.

Outcome
This drink really shined.  Despite its relatively low amount, the old tom gin was the initial and probably strongest flavor in the drink.  Its slight sweetness and herbal quality complemented the liqueurs.  I like to think of sloe gin and lemoncello as cousins because both were traditionally made with fruit by farmer types in the countryside.  Homemade hooch is the best.  Anyway, they worked well together.  The swallow ended with a twisting of the two liqueurs followed by a bit of a warm taste from the gin.  All in all, most pleasant.

It's a bit more challenging than most sloe gin concoctions, being cut with nothing but liqueurs but still relatively accessable.  Also note that the lemoncello that I used was relatively strong and not too sweet.  Otherwise you might need to use some bitters or at least amp up the amount of old tom gin.  The English Accent was also very easy to make.

Next time I might try garnishing it withe a rosemary or mint sprig to play up the herbal flavor instead of the lemon wedge, which slightly cuts down the sweetness and amplifies the lemoncello.  I also think that I could dial back the sloe gin to 1.5 ounces and perhaps up the old tom gin to .75 ounces.

Consuming the Shame Part 4: Celery Bitters

Of all of the spirits that I have endeavored to salvage, my Bitter Truth Celery Bitters had the most promise.  First, unlike most of the other spirits, it is neither super sweet or a basic spirit but of low quality.  Second, and more important, it is interesting.  More than anything else, "interesting" ingredients are what separate drinks at high end bars from those of more conventional bars or restaurants.  They use rosemary infused vodka instead of Stoli for instance.  Celery bitters falls into that group of interesting ingredients, which could help make unique cocktails.  The trouble is that it is really strong and tends to dominate drinks.  The several times I've tried to use celery bitters, the drinks all came out tasting like a Bloody Mary, which was never the intent.

One thing that I've learned about these bitters, more so than orange or angostura bitters, is that they are potent and should be used in very small doses.  I've also come to the conclusion that bitters should help shape a drink, but in most cases not be a featured flavor.  With that in mind, following a decent bit of contemplation, I came up with a very tasty cocktail.

Old Glasshouse

Ingredients
2 ounces of Old Tom Gin (Ransom)
1 ounce of Dry Vermouth (Nolly Pratt)
1/2 ounce of Elderflower Liqueur (St. Germain)
1 dash (6 drops) of celery bitters (Bitter Truth)
 
Directions
Stir ingredients with ice, pour into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon peel.

Outcome
This is a legitimately good drink, which is at its heart a martini variant.  The celery bitters mix nicely with the elderflower liqueur.  The bitters did not overwhelm the drink but kept the St. Germain from giving the drink a sweet lingering aftertaste that I've experienced in some drinks with the spirit.  The sweet herbal quality of the Old Tom gin works with both the floral taste of the St. Germain and the savory quality of the celery bitters.  This cocktail might fall just a hair sweeter than my preference on that scale but it works.  In fact, my wife, who likes her drinks a bit on the sweet side really liked it.  Though I lack it at the moment, I think genever gin, which like Old Tom gin is very herbal, but isn't quite as sweet, might prove better still.  This drink is good enough that I might submit this or a variant of it for this month's Mixology Monday.