February 21, 2010

Mixology Monday XLVI: Absinthe

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So, I missed a couple of Mixology Mondays, but I'm back in the game with this one! The focus this month was on crafting drinks with absinthe, as suggested by Sonja over at the "Thinking of Drinking" blog. I happen to have a locally distilled absinthe that I'm quite fond of, and I figured "Hey, let's use that!"

So I set about looking for a drink to feature this time. I initially planned on making one up, but my first attempt fell rather ignominiously flat (should have worked in theory, did not work in practice) and so I turned to reworking an already extant drink. There's a very simple tipple called the "Foggy Day" that uses just gin and absinthe, with a twist of lemon for garnish. I decided to tweak that a little bit, and make it my own. So I now give you:
The Foggy Day in Kingston Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Tanqueray No. Ten gin
1/4 oz Amerique 1912 Absinthe Verte
dash of limoncello
2 dashes Jamaican bitters

Shake all with ice, pour over ice in a small glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
The grapefruit and spice notes of my Jamaican bitters really meld with the anise notes of the absinthe, plus the citrus of the Tanqueray No. Ten and the limoncello (there's such a tiny amount that I wasn't about to call the limoncello brand) blend quite harmoniously, as well. I think it's quite a nice take on the classic Foggy Day, and a little more interesting than the original, to boot.

Foggy Day in Kingston Cocktail


Thanks again to Sonja for hosting this month's MxMo. She's one of the geniuses behind Chicago's North Shore Distillery, and they make some AWESOME stuff (no that's not a plug, just a declaration of love) so try it if you have access to it!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great post, Chris - the drink sounds great. Maybe we should arrange a Midwest bitters swap so I could try those bitters. And thanks for the kind words too!

    Cheers.

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  2. Hey Sonja! Thanks for the feedback! I'm just a bit to your north (about five counties up from Cook Co.) and I try to make it to Chicago periodically, as most of my friends are there. If you'd like, I can get a batch of Jamaican bitters going to bring down on my next jaunt to the Windy City. Just say the word!

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  3. I would love to try them, hopefully our paths will cross at some point soon! Let me know the next time you're in Chi-town, maybe we can meet up for a cocktail or something.

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