Name: Mad MacPeat
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 25 ml Peated malt whisky; 25 ml Cognac (brandy); 25 ml Elderflower liqueur; 1.25 ml Absinthe

Mad MacPeat
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Photographed in a Modern America Rocks

Ingredients:
⁵⁄₆ oz	Torabhaig Peated Single Malt Whisky
⁵⁄₆ oz	Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. cognac
⁵⁄₆ oz	Elderflower liqueur
0.04 oz	La Fée Parisienne absinthe

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill an Old-fashioned glass.
Prepare garnish of skewered red grapes.
STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

Peated whisky sits brilliantly with the floral elderflower notes in this late-night sipper. Absinthe plays an important role and I like with as much four times the quarter bar spoon I've stipulated in this recipe.

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History:

A March 2023 riff on my 2006 In-Seine cocktail at the suggestion of Lucas Fiammiferi, a fellow Discerning Drinker, in a comment on our In-Seine page.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
28.24% alc./vol. (28.24° proof)
21.5 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Calvin Grant

28th January 2024 at 03:21

Very nice with the additional absinthe.

G. M. Genovese

31st May 2023 at 14:52

This grew on me. The peat (Laphroaig Cairdeas cask-strength Quarter Cask) was too medicinal at first, but settled into a nice balance by the third sip. Red grapes (didn't have any) couldn't be a more perfect garnish. Elderflower and grapes, huh?... I used the 1.25 ml of absinthe, and that could be bumped up a touch. Interesting drink! (31 May 2023, 10:51a)

John Hinojos

19th April 2023 at 04:00

Not a real peat fan, but this was outstanding. Did use a little less Elderflower to cut down on the sweet, but was perfect. The Elderflower flavour comes through perfectly. The peat was balanced. Thank you Simon for giving me another use for the peated Whisky I have in my drinks cabinet.

Jeremy Harrold

6th April 2023 at 17:19

A very easy to drink peated whisky cocktail. A touch sweet but I used Bowmore 12 and St Germain. Nice to come home to…

Chris Brislawn

6th April 2023 at 07:07

No Fiorente so used 1 oz St. Germain. Tempted to try an XO but went with 1 oz of my go-to cocktail cognac (ABK6 VSOP) for a first attempt. Added 1/2 tsp (1/12 oz or 2.5 ml) of absinthe; it doesn't need more than that. Simon appears to be going nuclear with the peat so I used 1 oz Compass Box Peat Monster. Wow; what a revelation. The smoke and sweet floral notes play incredibly well together. Well done! I'd like to cut the sugar (but not the florals) a bit; is Fiorente drier than St. Germain?

Simon Difford

6th April 2023 at 08:34

I've just tried Fiorente against St. Germain and they are very similar in all regards, including sweetness and citric acidity. I'd say both are less sweet than many other elderflower liqueurs. Both are excellent but nice to support the family-owned and made Fiorente.

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