| Last night's experiment: the Bosom Caresser. A very old drink with a very good name. I really wish it was a good drink. But it's not.
Bosom Caresser, Savoy Cocktail Book
1.5 oz brandy (used Armenian brandy from a glass rifle)
3/4 oz orange curacao (de Kuyper's)
1 tsp grenadine (homemade hibiscus grenadine)
1 egg yolk
Shake well with ice, strain into cocktail glass.
This is really, truly a terrible drink. It isn’t the egg yolk’s fault. You’d think so, but it isn’t. The problem is that there’s no balance to this drink whatsoever. It’s overwhelmingly spirit-forward despite the richness, with the curacao sweetness following the burn of the brandy, and the weird eggy flavor of the yolk cruising in at the rear of the pack. It tastes like something you'd drink on a dare.
There might be a core of something good buried in here, but it's going to take some work to bring it out.
Molokai Mule, Beachbum Berry Remixed
2 oz orange juice
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz orgeat syrup (used homemade)
1 oz Cognac (Courvosier)
1 oz light Puerto Rican rum (used Matusalem)
1 oz Demerara rum (used El Dorado 5)
Shake well with ice cubes. Pour unstrained into a double old-fashioned glass.
Tonight's experiment, by contrast, is excellent. Velvety and rich, fruity but well-balanced, and dangerously easy to drink. My homemade orgeat might be a little too powerful for this drink, as the almond and rosewater flavors come out very strong - it's delicious, but to give the other players a chance to shine, the orgeat should be dialed down a little. A milder commercial orgeat might be fine here. |
