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Islander
Vermouth-based and bittersweet with anise and fennel, and depending on your scotch, also faint smokiness
Rohaan Matmary
8th August 2020 at 13:49
Aah! No worries. Thanks for replying. Would you remember what vermouth did he used for you? I am really trying to recreate this recipe. Sounds delicious
8th August 2020 at 16:39
Sorry. No idea which vermouth but worth remembering that back then there were fewer vermouths available so a high probability that is was Martini.
6th August 2020 at 10:55
Hi Simon, Could you please shed more light on the history of this drink?
6th August 2020 at 13:38
I've looked at notes area that accompanies each cocktail on our database and sadly it's blank. Pretty much all I know is that it's a recipe from gaz. It must date back at least 12 years and I can't remember if something he made for me, sent me, or I purloined from something he'd written. Sorry. Hopefully, my note keeping has improved.
4th April 2020 at 16:34
Simon, thanks for getting back to me on this. Tried today with three drops, to no avail as far as anise taste is concerned. Being cooped up in the apartment thanks to the coronavirus, and with Easter coming up, I’m sure I’ll have a good chance to try it with 5 ml of Pernod. Right now I’m celebrating Saturday night (and World Rat Day ????) with a Grand Cosmopolitan, which really is grand.
5th April 2020 at 07:00
You have to like anise to like this drink. Perhaps also worth a try with a dash or 2 or absinthe in place of Pernod.
3rd April 2020 at 16:15
I liked this one quite a lot; however, what is a 1/4 dash? Having previously tried to figure out the amount of a “whole” dash (as in bitter) by googling, my conclusion for this drink was about 1 ml. How do you measure that? I used a pipette and put 1 drop of Pernod into the mixture. Didn’t notice that anise tone though, guess I’ll take two drops next time. But JW with vermouth in those proportions worked really well.
3rd April 2020 at 17:59
Hi Kjell. I believe the "1/4 dash" is due to an uploading error by yours truly and this should have been 1/4 shot / 1/4 dash / 7.5ml. I've just made the Islander using 7.5ml and I thought the anise was a little heavy so I have amended this to be 5ml (1 bar spoon) in the recipe. I really enjoyed this, while remembering the man who created it.