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Manicure

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (36)
Manicure image
Measurements in:
Serves:
1
Ingredients
3⁄4 fl oz Calvados / apple brandy / straight applejack
3⁄4 fl oz Blended Scotch whisky
3⁄4 fl oz Honey herbal liqueur (e.g. Drambuie)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

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How to make

Glass

Photographed in an UB Koto Old Fashioned 30cl

Prepare

  1. Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
  2. Prepare garnish of apple wedge or slice..

Method

  1. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  2. FINE STRAIN into ice-filled glass.

Garnish

  1. Garnish with apple wedge or slice.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Manicure contains 176 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.5 standard drinks
  • 31.5% alc./vol. (62.99° proof)
  • 21.3 grams of pure alcohol

Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

History

Created in 2010 by a collaboration between Emma Ramos and yours truly at the Cabinet Room in London, England.

More cocktails by Simon Difford

Review

Due to the use of calvados and honeyed Scotch herbal liqueur, for a brief moment of madness, this riff on a Rusty Nail was going to be called 'French Nail Care', but thankfully, this led to the name Manicure.

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$2.27 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 16.5 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.


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Gallery

Comments & Discussion

Peter M Premium Member
Made this with Avallen Calvados, Johnnie Walker Black, & Drambuie. Not bad, but the "smoke" was fairly dominant. I'm curious to play with the proportions and/or try a different Scotch.
score: 1
Peter M Premium Member
This worked better with a more traditional Calvados...
score: 1
Peter M Premium Member
Coming back after using this drink to help finish off a bottle of Berneroy Fine Calvados: making this with the Berneroy, Johnnie Walker Black, & Drambuie resulted in a great equal-parts drink, with relatively easy to find ingredients, if you're in the mood for a drink with a decent amount of "smoke". I'd maybe rate it more like a 4 on the sweet/dry/sour scale, but it still felt well-balanced by smoke/herbal/bitter components.
score: 1
Andy Parnell-Hopkinson
I found the two sweeter ingredients slightly overwhelmed my well scotch but adding 10ml more gave a better balance.
score: 5
Marie-Therese Straus
Funny name for what turned out to be a rather lovely, fairly subtle drink. We drank this with an eggy baked brioche pudding topped with fleur de sel caramel sauce and it was a surprisingly nice pairing. The Drambuie had just enough sweetness to stand up to the caramel and the Calvados complemented the rich eggy, almost fruity quality of the baked brioche very nicely. A lovely drink.
score: 4

View 3 comments and discussion

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Difford’s Shop logo
$2.27 per cocktail*

Makes a minimum of 16.5 cocktails.
Shipping and applicable tax calculated at checkout.


Orders are processed by a licensed Fulproof retailer. The buy now button is added simply for convenience.

Checkout

* May not include all ingredients. Price per cocktail is an estimate based on cost of one cocktail with ingredients shown above and does not include shipping.

Visit Difford’s Shop USA

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