13 Sep 2023: Savoy Cocktail #1

I’m pretty much a fan of any cocktail that uses a form of gin as the base, the juniper-y the better. So after spotting this beauty of a riff on a Martini on Liber & Co’s website, I knew I would be trying it.

Liber & Co. makes some really wonderful syrups for mixing up cocktails or mocktails, or just plain making beverages more interesting. Their version of grenadine is authentic and tasty - and for those of us not inclined to make our own grenadine syrup - the answer to our prayers.

In place of adding a barspoon of absinthe to the mix, I prefer to spritz the glassware, which is what I did for this drink. Spritzing the rim imparts the absinthe without it become overwhelming.

Ingredients

• 2 oz gin (my current dry gin of choice is Bombay)

• 1 oz dry vermouth (Dolin)

• 1/4 oz grenadine

• Barspoon of absinthe (see head note)

Put all the ingredients into a mixing glass, add ice, and stir for 20-30 seconds until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

04 Apr 2023: The ATTY

On this somewhat historic day, I thought a cocktail with a connection might be in order. So tonight’s sip was the aptly named ATTY cocktail. I consider this a sort of punched up riff on a gin martini. Because I was looking to highlight the purple color of the drink, I used Empress 1908 Gin, but I missed the more juniper-forwardness of our usual Bombay Dry, so I played around with adding a barspoonful of the Bombay to the 1908. Not too shabby.

Traditional ATTY cocktails call for a 1/4 oz of Absinthe. I’m not a huge fan of Absinthe, but didn’t want to miss out on the flavor, so I spritzed the chilled glass instead.

Ingredients

(per the traditional recipe - see my headnote for tweaks)

• 2 oz dry Gin

• 3/4 oz dry Vermouth (used Dolin)

• 1/4 oz Créme di Violette Liqueur

• 1/4 tsp absinthe (see headnote)

Place all ingredients in a shaker, add ice and shake until super chilled (I did 40 seconds - maybe not necessary to do that much). Pour into chilled coupe glass and optionally garnish with lemon peel.