Blackthorn No. 2 (Homeboy's)

Serve in a

Photographed in a

Garnish:

Orange zest twist

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice and strain into chilled glass.

Review:

Just as Aaron, its creator, describes it, whiskey-laced boozy blackcurrant fruit pastille.

Variant:

There are numerous blackthorn recipes, but they fall into two camps: one based on Irish whisky with vermouth and absinthe and the other with gin/sloe gin and vermouth. The numbering of the various Blackthorn variations starts in the 1930 Swallows edition of Boothby's World's Drinks And How To Mix Them and continues in his posthumously published 1934 edition, where he adds the Blackthorn No. 5.
Blackthorn No. 1 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 2 - sloe gin, rosso vermouth, sugar syrup, lemon juice, aromatic bitters, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 3 (AKA Blackthorn Irish) - Irish whiskey, dry vermouth, absinthe, Bokers bitters.
Blackthorn No. 4 - gin, Dubonnet, kirshwasser, orange bitters.
Blackthorn No. 5 - gin, sloe gin, dry vermouth, lemon juice, sugar syrup, aromatic bitters.
Blackthorn (English) - gin, sloe gin, rosso vermouth, dry vermouth, orange bitters, aromatic bitters.

History:

Adapted from a recipe created by Aaron Wall at his Homeboy bar in Islington, London, England where it's one of the signature cocktails. Aaron says, "The Blackthorn cocktail appears in The Savoy Cocktail Book with a gin and an Irish whiskey version, using fortified wine as a modifier. The idea for us was to amplify the berry flavours that you would get from the fortified wine and use a port instead and rounding it off with a little demerara sugar to make this drink finish with a distinct taste of boozy blackcurrant fruit pastille."

While this may be a variation of The Savoy Cocktail Book's Blackthorn it is more properly a riff on Harry Johnson's "Black Thorn" from his 1900 Bartender's Manual which, thanks to William "Cocktail Bill" Boothby's 1930 World's Drinks And How To Mix Them is now known as a Blackthorn No. 3.

More cocktails by Aaron Wall

Nutrition:

One serving of Blackthorn No. 2 (Homeboy's) contains 164 calories.

Alcohol content:

• 1.2 standard drinks
• 24.42% alc./vol. (48.84° proof)
• 17.2 grams of pure alcohol