Nice bitterness but by my taste too sweet for a drink thats supposed to be refreshing.

Could be the gentian liqueur? I used Suze which is quite bitter, did not find this sweet at all.

Thanks, I much appreciate expanding on low alcohol drinks like this one. Schweppes tonic did a good job — the crispness suits it well. One basil top was also an excellent complement. I also agree that it is absolutely possible to play with proportions here — Byrrh and tonic is an excellent combo on its own!

Great cocktail ingredient, adds a really nice kick of fresh, green chiles without hassle. Also nice to sip — as long as you like chili , that is.

This is the best white rum I ever tried. Undiluted, it is still smooth at 69ABV(!) and tastes like the perfect marriage of rhum agricole and wild fermented pot still rum (clairin comes to mind). No harshness whatsoever, even the grassy cane notes that make certain people shy away from rhum agricoles blends perfectly into the rich palette of flavours.

Very, very nice. My favourite barman used to make me gin daisies with celery and this was on par with his best. No cocchi in the house but blending 60/40 St. Germain and Dolin Dry did the trick.

Inspired by the quite booze-heavy margarita recipe of the IBA, I tried those proportions for the toreador cocktail (10-4-2 in parts that is, not ounces...). I found that very, very good. A great drink that can be tweaked and improvised upon. My favourite is still with mezcal rather than tequila. The quite fruity and only moderately
“peated” Siete Misterios Doba-Yej is just lovely for this cocktail. Haven’t found your bitters in my home market but a floral bitters added should be perfect.

Very good cocktail, with mezcal it was even better.

Not bad! A bit like a sweet margarita, but when I tried with mezcal it was simply &. The fruity sweetness in the apricot brandy (Giffard’s abricot du Rousillon) was a perfect match for a mildly smoky mezcal (Siete
Misterios Dona-Yej).

Absolutely an improvement! I tried your tweak with the “French” version, using a 59% Père Labat rhum agricole instead of gin. A revelation! (that might require you’re already into rhum agricole though).

Lovely notes of quince, antiquity store, strawberry and lime. Great mescal, although a bit pricey.

Inspired by an Aviazione, I swapped out the gin for grappa. Might need to dial up the violette a tad or perhaps go with all lemon... thoughts?

Grappa is such a poorly regulated liquor so it depends. In my experience they can be anything between a distillate that includes slugs, leaves and a grape picker’s lost glove, to a lovely, smooth brandy. Some do have a bitter, stingy flavour profile that will not work well with citrus. If that is the case with yours, I would first try just a tad of sugar syrup.

I preferred this to Aviation. It got even better with one dash absinthe and one dash of Tonic bitters (from Bitter Truth, I suppose many citrus bitters would work)

I find this bottle more and more handy for several purposes. Like you say, it livens up any gin drink that is a bit flat, like an Aviation. But it is also great for several rum drinks, indispensable in a Ti’ punch I think. Also anything with mint in it is a great match.

PS: Siete Misterios Doba-yej mezcal is a great alternative at a pretty good price. More agave-/fruit driven and maybe a bit less smoke than La Vida. Better value for the money I find.

Thanks for this one! I had a pint of homemade ginger syrup in the freezer that I needed to find alternative uses for. Great drink! I wonder if Campari is not a tad too bitter for the perfect balance, so stick to Aperol in the recipe I f you have it. Still great with Campari, though.

How many hours are recommended to stay in alcohol for basil, apple, mint, lavender...

I use an excellent Danish site for reference. It is unfortunately only in Danish and probably not updated anymore, but you could use Google Translate and ctrl+F-search (cmd+F on a Mac) using the latin name of the plants you seek as search terms.

http://www.engelund.dk/de-gode-sider_mad-og-drikke/snapseurter/

Thanks, great cocktail!
I also tried a version with the obvious name Psicó asesino where Ancho Reyes substitutes Crème de cacao. Here, I also added chocolate bitters because I find that the cocoa aspect is quintessential. Not saying it is fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, fa, better, but very good...!

I always have one of these in the fridge. Drink it with cheese, pre dinner, with dessert or certainly in cocktails such as El présidente, white negroni with Suze or in the to me new discovery Blackthorn Irish

Great recipe and cocktail. I can certainly recommend trying Dolin blanc as the vermouth component, it makes the different flavours blending into something quite unique. For the Irish whiskey component, it is a quite safe choice to go for the Redbreast 12.

I have started to use the quite lightly sweet Dolin blanc when old recipes call for “French vermouth” instead of the common interpretation Noilly Prat et al. — quite pleasing results so far. I’ll try it for this one too, as soon as the bottle of Boker’s/Bogart’s that I just ordered arrives.

I couldn’t agree more. This product deserves more attention than it gets. It does feel a bit iconoclastic to say it is better than Peychaud’s, but I think it really is. I have compared the two over several months now.

For the home bar, Madeira is nearly always a good substitute for sherry — unless you finish the sherry bottle in a couple of weeks.
To simulate Oloroso, go for a fine rich or a sercial madeira.

Your review on the Banane du Brésil inspired a purchase and an urge to do some experimenting on alternative versions of this one. The vodka cedes the leading part to Damoiseau 5 ans rhum agricole. The obvious working title is “Saint-François”, after a town conveniently situated just south of the Damoiseau distillery on Guadeloupe. A splash of absinthe and Peychaud’s is also at play, and lime juice instead of orange juice. Perhaps a bit Clairin Sajous too — marvellous with the banane.