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See all 2025 entries

Dusky Mandarin

Dusky Mandarin by Gabriel Bindea
  • Bartender: Gabriel Bindea
  • Bar: Visuin Nut (a) House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Serve in a

Nick & Nora glass

Garnish:

As a garnish, I've chosen a small cone filled with roasted almonds - a playful yet elegant touch that enhances the visual appeal while offering a crunchy element to enjoy alongside the drink. It creates a multi-sensory experience: sip the cocktail, take a bite, and let the flavors echo and evolve together.

How to make:

We begin by pre-chilling both our Nick & Nora glass and our shaker - a small yet essential step that ensures temperature consistency from start to finish.
Next, we build the cocktail directly in the shaker, layering each ingredient with intention and precision.

To achieve a rich and velvety foam, I use a reverse dry shake - first shaking with ice to chill and dilute, then shaking without ice to aerate and emulsify. This technique gives the final drink a refined texture and an elegant visual lift.

After shaking, the cocktail is double strained into our pre-chilled glass, using a fine strainer to catch any ice shards and ensure a smooth, clean pour.

5/6 fl oz Mandarine Napoleon liqueur
5/6 fl oz Cognac (brandy)
1/3 fl oz Amaretto liqueur
1/6 fl oz Cynar artichoke amaro
1/2 fl oz Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1/3 fl oz Sugar syrup 'rich' (2 sugar to 1 water, 65.0°Brix)
1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters
2 drop Cocktail foamer (foaming agent)
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