The port is a bit dominant for my palate as written. The addition of bitters both pulls back the sweetness and adds another layer of complexity. I’ve found both tobacco and mole bitters work very well with this recipe.
By the way, very small correction but the description calls for placing the coffee beans on the cocktail’s foamy head. I suspect maybe copy/pasted from the espresso martini spec :)
This was notably dry and boozy for my palette using Ferrand dry curaçao. Next time I’d swap for Cointreau… but would it be better than either a champs elysee or a sidecar on its own? Unclear…
A surprising, tasty combination of flavors. Lime over lemon seemed questionable but it works nicely. As others have noted, we did find this a tad cloying as written (and using Giffard peach) , but upping the cognac to 2oz restored the balance (to our palate). Enjoy!
Swapped the campari and simple for 1/2oz aperol and found this to be quite well balanced and delicious
It's...alright. It's nice. It tastes a lot closer to a last word than I expected but it's in a weird place that it's not as good as a last word (for a tangy, complex gin/chartreuse/herbal cocktail) and it's not as good as a paper plane (for a tangy, complex aperol/fruity/bittersweet cocktail).
Spot on. I thought about playing with the proportions or swapping ingredients but why bother when those alternatives exist.
That said, it does only require common ingredients so if you don’t have a bottle of nonino or charteuse handy (the latter always a challenge these days) it’s a reasonable alternative.
At the risk of insulting the master himself, I found the elderflower a bit overpowering. I enjoyed this more after cutting it back to 1 fl oz (or even a tad less). Cheers.