Last week in the chatroom here was a Thursday Drink Night with a theme focusing on personal favorite ingredients this year. These prized liquor shelf possessions ranged from Averell’s Damson Gin to Spanish Bitters. Here are four of the drinks from that night:
Zach Pearson’s embittered rum drink, the Spanish Sigh, features a large amount of Spanish Bitters.
Spanish Sigh
• 1 oz Cynar
• 3/4 oz Bonal
• 1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum
• 1/4 oz Spanish Bitters
• 1 slice Orange
Muddle orange slice, add rest of ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with salt. Float 1/4 oz Cream Sherry (such as Lustau’s) and twist an orange peel over the top.
Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin/Slut really enjoyed his bottle of Averell Damson Gin which makes for a good substitute for Sloe Gin. The Damson Gin acquires its fruit from the Red Jacket Orchards in New York State.
Red Jacket
• 1 1/2 oz Funky Amber Rum
• 3/4 oz Averell Damson Gin
• 1/2 oz Benedictine
• 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
Dan Chadwick of the Kindred Cocktail database honors Clear Creek’s eau de vie of Douglas Fir with a drink name that translates into “crooked, bent, twisted wood” from German.
Krummholz
• 1 1/2 oz Gin
• 1 oz Gran Classico
• 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
• 1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1/2 oz Clear Creek Douglas Fir
Stir with ice and strain into an Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.
Finally, SeanMike of Scofflaw’s Den presents a drink that I never had a chance to ask which one of the three was his favorite of the year nor what the drink means. Perhaps you should just make it and decide its true meaning yourself.
The Eleven Bang One
• 2 oz Castries
• 1 oz Becherovka
• 2 dash Mole Bitters
Shake with ice and pour unstrained into a coupe glass.
