This one made me smile. I used Don Papa in place of the traditional Jamaican rum, trading a bit of funk for warmth, and it worked wonderfully. The vanilla and molasses in the rum paired beautifully with the Green Chartreuse, keeping all of its herbal character but making the whole drink feel a little softer and rounder. A genuinely charming cocktail, and one I'll definitely come back to.
(still looking for the Last Word variation that I don't like.)
I’d love to try this, any recommendations for a comparable American apple juice?
If I had my druthers, I would swing by our local orchard for cider.
You guys have piqued my interest. Will definitely be putting this on the must do list.
Love the bitter notes in this LW riff. The aperol opens up the stage for the bourbon notes, and the amaro is just heaven in this. (To be fair, I'm already a nonino fan.) Really structurally tantalizing.
Not really a vodka fan - think this would carry well with a good gin?
Revisiting this for an afternoon apertif, in an attempt to enjoy the holiday while still being relatively responsible. The light floral overtones from the orange blossom water and elderflower keep it fragrant and the bubbles keep it bright. Originally created as a brunch offering, turns out it goes pretty well with a picnic, too.
To be honest, we're not fans of the classic Negroni recipe and we don't have a sweet tooth. So why we are tooling around with lemon syrup in this drink is a bit of a mystery. But never mind, "to boldly go" as the inventor of the deep fried Mars Bar might have said. We pushed it back towards the classic by substituting a bolder Vermouth Amaro, Cocchi, for the Cardamaro, increasing the red bitter to 22.5ml and upping the lemon syrup to 7.5ml. Maybe think of it as a frivolous and fun dalliance between Florence and Capri.
Good news for me! Cocchi is on the shelf.
We're constantly surprised how few recipes there are for this on Difford's Guide, relative to how delicious it is: time for a competition or two?
I think that's a great idea!
This will be my first Midori cocktail. (it's on my need-to-get-that-soon list!)
We will try this...our grocer has blueberries now. In the meantime, we did a Negroni:
30ml Never Never Gin
30ml Cardamaro
17.5ml Tanica red bitter aperitivo
2.5ml lemon syrup
The Gin is a downunder (and, in our unashamedly biased view, excellent) double distilled version of a London dry, with a slightly higher ABV than is usually found. The Tanica is a downunder aperitivo made from Davidson's Plum (a local tropical fruit) and Strawberry Gum leaf. Campari will will be more austere and bitter, Tempus Fugit less bitter and more fruity.
How was this Negroni? I'm hoping to source some good swaps for your local delights. (plum bitter aperitivo? be still my heart)
Seriously delicious...a citrus and berry 'bomb' with lovely apple and herbal notes. Really nice balance and complexity and the Brandy gives it pleasing depth. So bravo. On a second pass, wanting to nudge it ever so slightly away from the fruit and towards the floral and bitter, we substituted Gin for the Brandy and added a couple of dashes (maybe one would have sufficed) of Grapefruit Bitters. But now we're probably talking about a 'Blue Thomas'.
You flatter me, sir. (And I dig it) Seriously, though. Appreciate the time you have it and the response. This one took several passes before I was happy with the flavor profile. Gratifying to hear someone else could find the blueberries in there.
Oh, my, yes. Fruit, flowers, gin (the Botanist was excellent in this as a botanical backbone)bitters, citrus, all lovely. But.... this mezcal note is so unexpected. Suddenly its tiki +. (And its pineapple.) God help me.
Yeah.... not only did I scale it up 1.5x, I had two of 'em
If this leads to a hangover, it was totally worth it.
Brown Sugar Banana Syrup
Banana, Brown sugar, Chilled water, Vanilla extract
Oh, my, yes. Fruit, flowers, gin (the Botanist was excellent in this as a botanical backbone)bitters, citrus, all lovely. But.... this mezcal note is so unexpected. Suddenly its tiki +. (And its pineapple.) God help me.
We will try this...our grocer has blueberries now. In the meantime, we did a Negroni:
30ml Never Never Gin
30ml Cardamaro
17.5ml Tanica red bitter aperitivo
2.5ml lemon syrup
The Gin is a downunder (and, in our unashamedly biased view, excellent) double distilled version of a London dry, with a slightly higher ABV than is usually found. The Tanica is a downunder aperitivo made from Davidson's Plum (a local tropical fruit) and Strawberry Gum leaf. Campari will will be more austere and bitter, Tempus Fugit less bitter and more fruity.
Hope it holds up to the anticipation. I had to really experiment to get that vibrant blueberry flavor and deep color. Its good to enjoy the work!
The lemon syrup experiments continue! This round heads back to summer fruit and fresh herbs, exploring how blueberry, apple, and thyme play together in a classic sour framework. I'd love to know if you're finding interesting uses for lemon syrup in your own cocktails—it's proving to be a much more versatile ingredient than I expected.
Very refreshing, delicate and nicely balanced. We thought that 6 drops of Rose Water wasn't too much and that, to complement the basil, a dash of Angostura enhanced the garnish (both in appearance and taste). As a 'stiffer backbone' version, an added 15ml Havana Club Original Rum worked for us and we suspect that Vodka might do so as well...at that volume we don't think that the spirit overpowered the elegant play between watermelon, lemon, basil and rose. Anyway, bravo. It's interesting how, when juiced, watermelon expresses a hint of bitterness. We served it in a Collins glass, where it sat very comfortably.
Thanks, Simon! Great to have some feedback on my concoctions. Love the rum and Angostura suggestion for a stiffer version. Will give that a go. Hoping the next "lemon syrup" experiment goes well, too.
My absolute favourite cocktail! At this point I just call it "summer drink".
1.5oz dry gin (tanqueray rangpur or our local Willing to Learn gin)
1.5oz st Germaine
1/4 oz lime juice
Mitful basil leaves
Muddle shake strain and top with tonic 👌🏻
I have no idea if this is an existing recipe or my roommate and I made it up one day
:D *mitful*
The search for well-organized cocktails using lemon syrup is on.... Let me know if we're off to a good start!
One I'd missed! I've now added Safe Word to the Last Word variations, bringing the total to 52. What are your top 10?
So much work..... so little time..... (so many more to try!) To date, the Ultima Palabra is my fave. (Sucker for anything with pineapple)