Join thousands of like-minded professionals and cocktail enthusiasts, receive our weekly newsletters and see pages produced by our community for fellow Discerning Drinkers.
Agree on halving the simple syrup, left everything else the same. First time made per the recipe and was a little cloying. Suze is the dominant flavor but everything still comes through, very balanced with perfect hint of bitterness. Like this a smidge over the Vieux Carre however both are excellent and doing different things. A new favorite.
Superb drink, but strongly recommend reducing the sweetness. The bitterness of the Suze really adds depth, but it is knocked out of whack by the Amaretto and the Simple Syrup. I bought a bottle of Suze just for this and I am glad I did!
I made it with 20mL Bianco vermouth and no sugar syrup which worked well served straight up, although I did find the Suze a bit too dominant and I would cut that back next time (though I expect the both the extra bitterness and the extra sweetness are required when served on ice).
Incredible drink. Personally I found the recipe as written slightly lacking in the bite I want from a spirit-forward drink, but upping to 3cl of each spirit solved that. I was initially skeptical about the 2:1 syrup:Amaretto ratio, but the Amaretto shines through more than you'd imagine. Love what the Suze brings without becoming overpowering.
I took down the bourbon by about 5 ml because I found it dominated an otherwise complex cocktail, and substituted my homemade whitebeam liqueur for the amaretto. Absolutely gorgeous. P.S. To the previous commenter, cocktails don't have genders.
Love the complexity of this one! Bitter, yet sweet, thanks to the perfect marriage of Suze (well worth getting a bottle specifically for this cocktail) with a humble but essential dose of amaretto.
Great variation for all lovers of Vieux Carré. And sure, this may be the more feminine of the two, but IMHO they're both perfectly unisex.
Now one of my favorites of all time along side the Vieux Carré. Deliciously supple with spicy notes, aromatic, yet smooth and complex. A drink for anytime and has a sweetness that keeps bringing you back for more. Thank you for putting this out there, Simon.
This is a great cocktail! Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredient list. Extremely balanced with gentian bitterness offset by the sweetness of a touch of amaretto. (I don’t have Suze, but have been using Gran Classico. 1/3oz is definitely bitter, 1/4 is subtler).