Name: Baltasar and Blimunda
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Gin; 15 ml Red bitter liqueur; 15 ml Tawny port; 15 ml Vermouth amaro (Pun.)

Baltasar & Blimunda
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Glass:

Photographed in an UB 1910 Old Fashioned 10.5oz

Ingredients:
2 fl oz	Hayman's London Dry Gin
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Italian red bitter liqueur
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Cockburn's Tawny Eyes Port chilled
¹⁄₂ fl oz	Punt E Mes vermouth amaro chilled

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

Prepare:

Select and pre-chill an OLD-FASHIONED GLASS.
Prepare garnish of orange zest twist (flamed).

How to make:

STIR all ingredients with ice.
STRAIN into ice-filled glass (preferably over a large cube or chunk of block ice).

Garnish:

EXPRESS flamed orange zest twist over cocktail, then use as garnish.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Tawny port, Vermouth amaro - robust & full (e.g. Punt E Mes) - Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Review:

A Negroni variation with vermouth amaro and tawny port, producing a dry, lightly bitter digestivo. (When made with richer ruby port, this cocktail loses its structure.)

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History:

Adapted from a recipe created in 2008 by Phil Ward at Death & Co.in Manhattan, New York City.

Eponymously named after the 1982 historical novel by the Portuguese author José Saramago, which follows a wounded soldier, Baltasar, and a mysterious woman, Blimunda, as they become entangled in an ambitious 18th-century project to build a flying machine while the Portuguese crown constructs the grand Mafra Convent. The book blends history and magical realism to explore power, faith, love, and the human cost of monumental ambition.

More cocktails by Phil Ward

Nutrition:

One serving of Baltasar & Blimunda contains 212 calories

Alcohol content:

1.9 standard drinks
25.29% alc./vol. (50.57° proof)
26.6 grams of pure alcohol

More Aperitivo/aperitif cocktails
More Bittersweet (e.g. Negroni) cocktails

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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Showing 2 comments for Baltasar & Blimunda.
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Matt

10th April at 12:41

IMO this is only distantly related to a Negroni (proportions are far different). Despite higher gin weighting this doesn't present as boozy, or even gin-heavy. There is significant port flavor prominence - a very nice cocktail.

John CARR

3rd April at 14:28

A new favourite negroni! This really made my cocktail evening. Created a couple of years after the Cornwall negroni and a definite improvement by evolution of it, in my opinion. Better balanced and integrated. Will definitely be having again.
Garnish instructions seem contradictory lemon vs orange flamed twist? I was half way through doing lemon when noticed the orange. Lemon non-flamed actually worked better with the Tanq 10 that I was using.

Chris Brislawn

12th April at 02:45

I, too, was confused by the specification of both lemon and orange flamed zest twists, so I used one of each. According to Death & Co.'s "Modern Classic Cocktails," which is probably as close to Phil Ward's original recipe as we're gonna get, the official garnish is a flamed orange "coin," as shown in Difford's photos. I've watched video of Dale DeGroff igniting flaming orange coins and it looks like you get just one good flaming squeeze per coin (don't burn your fingers). I don't do coins and can attempt several pyrotechnic squeezes out of a good-size zest strip. A great Negroni variation with more body than the standard recipe. And no, I haven't read the book.

1 reply

John CARR

8th April at 14:51

Also good was a mash up version with 15 Each Rosso Antico vermouth, 10yo tawny port, Campari, dash orange bitters. The port’s body helped the fine aromatics and almost smokey tobacco notes of the vermouth to come out and play.

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