Because I am in a land of lingonberries rather than lemons at the moment, I turned the whole thing Finnish with Lignell & Piispanen Lingoncello and lingonberry juice. Yes, it’s a different cocktail now, but it still works! Kippis!
For a Nordic riff, I just made this but with Lingoncello from Lignell & Piispanen. It works very, very well! Call it a Negroni Finlandese, or something.
A cocktail for the “strange but good” file - love a savoury cocktail like this. I was greedy and doubled everything because I wanted more than a bite-sized drink. For my fellow coriander-haters, I recommend celery bitters as a good substitute. Also because I am very literal, I cued up “Hang on Little Tomato” by Pink Martini while I was mixing it, and I think this should be part of the recipe.
This is a fantastic cocktail, on track to become a new favourite. I made it extra Finnish (because I am currently in Helsinki) by subbing in lingonberry juice for the cranberry, and using my naughty-but-nice Tom of Finland vodka. Also I had Kajo cloudberry liqueur rather than Lapponia, but honestly if you can get your hands on any kind of Lakkalikööri at all you are winning!
Absolutely delicious, but those quantities make a fairly big drink for something meant to be served up - it’s like a normal 5:1 martini but with an extra two parts. I might suggest this is two drinks, or otherwise use the same proportions but scaled down? Or of course you can also drink the whole thing as written, but either it has to be drunk too fast for wisdom or it will be unpleasantly warm by the time you’re done!
This is absolutely superb - worth making the honey syrup just for this cocktail. The balance of smoky, bitter, citrus and sweet makes for a cocktail that is entirely unexpected. May be a new favourite!
This is an excellent alternative to a Boulevardier, a drink I love very much, so that is saying a lot. I used Ramazzotti in place of Montenegro, which I’m out of, and it works extremely well. Something about the sherry and amaro combination gives the drink an almost saline quality, and then that hint of coffee comes through. Really impressive!
An excellent Martini. On a second pass at it, we split the Vermouth 2/3 dry (Noilly Prat) and 1/3 bianco (Contratto). To our taste, the bianco lifts and broadens the drink with its floral notes and gentle sweetness.
A good shout. I only had bianco on hand to try this, and it's still a great martini, considering I normally take my martinis bone dry. Once I get some proper dry vermouth back in my bar, I'll try your version!
This is a beguiling little bite of a cocktail. Definitely important to keep the proportion of curaçao to 5ml or perhaps even less - a dash? - because it provides an integrating citrus background to the vermouths and whisky without overwhelming them with sweetness. I might even try it with orange bitters next, per one of those older recipes.
A very interesting Sidecar variation, that happily gives me something to do with my crème de cassis besides putting it in sparkling wine. I may also try this with some Aelder elderberry liqueur from Buck & Birch, which has a similar flavour profile to cassis.
One query about the origin of this cocktail. In my own academic field, it would hardly be considered adequate to credit a research collaborator as “so-and-so’s wife.” Presumably the estimable individual espoused to Mr Stevenson has a name. Did anyone try to find out what it is, so that she can be credited more appropriately for her contributions to mixology?
This is an excellent margarita - love the herbal background of the sage. I subbed in agave syrup for the sugar syrup, as this seemed to make sense for a margarita.
Like other commenters, I had no apricot eau de vie to hand, but I did have plum (go figure), and I submit that this is a better substitution than either apple or pear eaux de vie. Botanically much closer to apricots of course, and with the same combination of floral fruitiness and astringency. In any case the result is wonderful.
I have just made this with coconut nectar rather than agave syrup, and the result is outstanding. Because the coconut nectar is something my friend brought back from Fiji, we are calling this variation the Maria Teresia for a more Pasifika flavour!
I was out of Averna so I subbed in Ramazzotti, which worked very well. Also, 15ml of maple syrup makes it *very* sweet; if that’s not your thing I would take it down to 10 or even 5ml.
Finally a grown-up use for the cream sherry I was given as a gift! This is a truly unexpected cocktail (as in, unexpectedly good), and definitely benefits from the dilution of ice, so I have served it in the alternative Negroni style.
I had some new make spirit from a recent visit to the Port of Leith distillery here in Edinburgh, and thought I'd try this with it. Superb, if a very different take on a Manhattan! I like mine dry in any event, which this is, with a beguiling saltiness (from the new make spirit) and almost mintiness (from the absinthe). I know it doesn't sound good, but it is!
I used the Highland Boundary larch and honeysuckle spirit, as I didn't happen to have their birch one. It's magnificent - probably a different cocktail with the slight conifer tang of the larch, but it really does work with this recipe.
Love seeing how everyone has tried this with different amari. Instead I switched out the aperitivo - didn’t have Aperol (which I’m not all that fond of, too sweet) so I used our local aperitivo from the Old Poison Distillery right here in Leith. The result is excellent, if not as pretty to look at as the original. But arguably much more interesting!
Dilution and keeping the proportion of absinthe to a bare minimum do seem to be key here. So much so that I thought maybe just an absinthe rinse would be enough, and then thought why stop there, and substituted rye for the cognac. The result is quite good, but obviously not the same cocktail - one could call this variation the “Martinezerac.”
Small but potent Sidecar, very delicious, might belong in a Nick & Nora glass. "And though she be but little, she is fierce." I made it with Ricard pastis.
A really lovely winter riff on the margarita. Yum. On the comments from people saying "I used apple cider" - I'm guessing these folk are in North America, where "apple cider" refers to pressed apple juice, i.e. what's called for in the recipe. Here in the UK, "apple cider" is an alcoholic drink with some carbonation, or what North Americans call "hard cider". That would change the cocktail completely, though I'm sure it would be interesting!
Did not have crème de nayou, so subbed amaretto and it was delicious
Yes, I had the same problem, so subbed in my homemade whitebeam bud liqueur which has a comparable almondy profile. It works beautifully!
I've now tried this with oude and jonge genever - for science! It makes two very different drinks, both excellent. With oude it has more depth (but you really have to like that maltiness), with jonge it's fresher, and the bitters stand out more.