Name: Explorer 'Martini'
Total time: 2 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 30 ml Scotch whisky; 30 ml Amaretto liqueur; 30 ml Amontillado sherry

Ingredients

1 fl oz

Blended Scotch whisky

1 fl oz

Adriatico Amaretto Liqueur

1 fl oz

Lustau Amontillado Los Arcos Sherry

How to make

Glass

Prepare

Method

STIR all ingredients with ice.

STRAIN into ice-filled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with maraschino cherry.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Explorer 'Martini' contains 211 calories

Alcohol content:

1.5 standard drinks
22.7% alc./vol. (45.41° proof)
20.5 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Amontillado sherry — Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Review

The choice of sherry greatly impacts the Explorer. Made with cream sherry, as per the original recipe, brings out the rich marzipan notes in the amaretto to produce a richer after-dinner cocktail.

In contrast, a fino sherry dries this cocktail to make it more apéritif in style with nutty flavours to the fore.

Amontillado sherry (as in our rendition) amplifies butterscotch and is best served on the rocks in an old-fashioned as a late-night tipple. An extremely versatile equal parts recipe to appeal to all palates.

Comments & Discussion

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Caitlin Eisner 10 months ago

Really happy with this. I made a version of this with a dash of cherry syrup and it worked perfectly with the amaretto.

Steven 1 year ago

Great cocktail.

I first encountered it at the Rabbit Hole “speakeasy” at Sandals Ochi. This was where I experienced my first true cocktail (the excellent Bees Knees) so it holds a special place in my heart.

Most bartenders will make the equal parts recipe. But one year one bartender gave me his preferred recipe of 1.5 dewars, 0.75 sherry, 0.5 amaretto. Give it a try if the equal parts recipe is too sweet.

Frederic D. 2 years ago

One of the very few drinks I have made from this website that I really did not care for. It opens nicely enough, but evolves into an almost sour component that I found unpleasant. I even checked my sherry (Harvey's), to ensure it hadn't gone off. I also tried scaled down versions with rye, madeira, and vermouth, and have come to the conclusion that the combination brings out something from the amaretto I just don't care for. I was finishing up a bottle of Disaronno, so YMMV with a different bran

Niklas Hedlund 1 year ago

As I just now made myself this for the first time, I would recommend trying it with a dry sherry like a Amontillado or even a Palo Cortado, make sure they're dry with not much residual sugar and definitely no added sugar like Harvey Bristol Cream.

Alex Clark 2 years ago

This website is absolute garbage. Can't even copy and paste comments while they are being written, you don't have copyright over my words that I haven't even sent yet. Difford's is bad.

Simon Difford 2 years ago

I apologise for the frustration. I agree unnecessary on comments. We are rebuilding what our comments system and this issue will be addressed when we launch in the early weeks of 2024.

John Hinojos 3 years ago

Not being a big Sherry drinker, I approached this with some trepidation; however, Difford's has encouraged me to be willing to try new things. This was outstanding as an after-dinner drink. Did use the Amontillado sherry and it was perfect.

Richard Christmas 4 years ago

Much sweeter than the more interesting Brooklyn Godfather, and yet they are both mark as 5.

Simon Difford 4 years ago

The Brooklyn Godfather is dried by being spirit-forward and I've changed to be a 6 to show that it's on the dry side. Many thanks for the observation, Richard.

Calvin Grant 4 years ago

If you are looking for something to make with Amontillado Sherry or Amaretto do try this. Now I must make it with a Fino. ++

Derek Rocco 6 years ago

reminds me of a godfather, or i guess the godfather no. ii. though i could do without the maras hino liqueur in that one, i guess godfather no. iii?

delicious nonetheless