Complex or Muddled: The Hotel Haute-Savoie Cocktail

One of the things that I like about cocktails is dissecting how the different ingredients come together and interact.  To do this you have to be able to discern the various flavors.  This is not, however, always possible.  Take for instance the Long Island Iced Tea.  Though recipes differ, the Long Island usually has 8 ingredients.  I at least cannot differentiate each of the ingredients.  A couple stand out but for the most part it does not taste like eight ingredients, it taste like a Long Island Iced Tea.

This raises the question of the value a drink where the combination is so muddled to the point where some or all of the ingredients no longer stand out.  As mentioned above, I like to see their interactions.  On the other hand, if something taste good (and I'm not saying the Long Island does) its flavor should be able to stand on its own - regardless of its components.  This is the case with a drink that I recently made, the Hotel Haute-Svoie.

Ingredients
2 ounces of rhy
1 ounce of elderflower liqueur
1/2 ounce of dry vermouth
1 teaspoon of absinthe
1 dash of angostura bitters
1 dash of orange bitters

Directions
Stir ingredients and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Outcome
As mentioned above, the ingredients really meshed.  I could taste the rhy initially and very faintly in the swallow.  The absinthe primarily showed in the swallow and the aftertaste.  I couldn't pull out the vermouth or bitters at all.  Most surprisingly, I could hardly, if at all, taste the St. Germain.  I was worried that it would overwhelm the drink, both in flavor and sweetness, but this simply was not the case.  The drink came off pretty balanced and very fragrant with the absinthe and the elderflower giving it a very distinct nose.  The bitters, vermouth, and rhy all balanced it out.  The overall flavor is hard to describe without deconstructing, but it worked, and in the end I think that's what matters.  This is a cocktail that I'll no doubt make again.

Booze Pairings: Dental Work

Yesterday I had some dental work, which involved four large needles entering my jaw.  Sometime after dinner, which involved me comically trying to open my mouth and chew when half my tongue and lower lip were numb, the local anesthetic started wearing off and a decent amount of pain ensued, probably more from the shots than the drilling.  I considered ibuprofen but decided to use alcohol instead to alleviate my pain (important note: I was not given anything but local anesthetic.  Do not drink with real pain killers).

So what is a good drink to follow up dental work?  A couple of criteria come to mind.  First, it must be strong.  No Pimm's Cups here.  Second, given the discomfort and partial numbness remaining in my tongue, it's probably not worth the expense or effort to concoct something real high end or fancy.  I wasn't in the mood to spend to much time juicing, muddling, or making syrups anyway.  For high amounts of alcohol with low cost and effort, to families of cocktails come to mind.  First is the martini family.  Second is the Manhattan family, which I opted for, making a Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo Cocktail

Ingredients

2 ounces of rhy (Old Overholt)

0.75 ounce of Benedictine

2 dashes of Peychaud's bitters

Directions

Stir ingredients with ice and garnish with a cherry.

Outcome

This pretty well hit the spot.  While still quite boozy, the Benedictine made it a bit smoother than a Manhattan's sweet vermouth would.  The bitters kept in in balance and the cherry, well the cherry looked nice.  The cocktail did its job by blunting the pain in my jaw and tasted pretty good in the process.  Cheers!

The Old Pal Cocktail

Ingredients

1 ounce of rhy
3/4 ounce of dry vermouth
3/4 ounce Campari
lemon twist

Directions:  Stir and pour into a cocktail glass and garnish with lemon

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity): 7
I'm of mixed minds about this drink.  If you want a strong but tart drink, this is an excellent choice.  The taste is layered with the rhy and Campari coming through and the vermouth laying in the background.  On the other hand, it is not balanced.  That might not always be a bad thing though.  While I typically don't prefer drinks with multiple sweet or bitter taste (the vermouth and Campari are both pretty bitter, as is the lemon), the drink has a very coherent flavor profile, which I appreciate.  While I'm usually not a fan of putting ice in drinks, I think it really helped the Old Pal.  Because the drink is so strong, it lends itself to sipping. Further, I think the ice took away the "sharpness" of the vermouth so that as the 20 or so minutes that I drank the the Old Pal wore on, the flavors blended better and the rhy came through a bit more, which was a good thing.

Versatility (when and for who the drinks works): 3
 This is a strong drink that one must sit down and savor to enjoy. I don't think of the Old Pal as something I would quaff on my patio while working the grill.  This is more a drink that I sip while chatting with friends or reading.  This is not a drink for the casual imbiber, such as my wife.  Most of my friends shy away from particularly bitter drinks and they don't get too much more bitter than this.

Hassle (cost and time):  9
This drink is really easy to make.  Just dump the ingredients in the shaker, stir poor, and garnish.  Further, the ingredients, especially with my middling rhy and Martin and Rossie vermouth were quite cheap. 

Overall:  6
I initially didn't much care for this drink, finding the Campari and dry vermouth redundant, as the drink settled and the ice melted a bit, it really came together though.  More than bitter, I would call this drink spicy, with relatively hash notes from the Campari and rhy and accented by the lemon. That said, I think the Old Pal is for a very specific setting and won't work well for most people, hence the low rating - but for the right person and the right time, it can be a low-effort gem.

 Potential Improvements
 I like the interplay with the rhy and the Campari, though I might use a tad less of the former, as it's by for the strongest flavor in the drink.  My concern is more with the dry vermouth, which feels a little redundant with the Campari and perhaps pushes the Old Pal to be a little bit more bitter than is ideal.  I might try replacing it with 1/2 ounce of Contreau.  Alternatively, 1/2 ounce of lemoncello would maintain the citrus flavor of the lemon and Campari but sweeten the drink little.

Update:  The Orange Pal
I made this cocktail again but substituted 1/2 ounce of Contreau for the vermouth.  Although perhaps a little less coherent, I thought the drink had better balance.  A friend of mine tried it and though it was an elegant cocktail that was much less challenging than the traditional Old Pal.  Though Contreau is a bit pricier than vermouth, I'll bump this cocktail up to a 7.5 because I think it is more balanced and a lot more people would enjoy it than the rather bitter Old Pal.