Ian Fenton

A solid meh from me. I can see why it never took off.

Probably one of the best cocktails I’ve tried for both Lillet Blanc and Suze, made with Dewar’s 8 year old mizunara oak cask finish. Couldn’t really work out the smouldering cinnamon though… my whole house smells vaguely of cinnamon but the stick itself just smelled like smoke.

have just started using this in a Bronx Cheer - pretty good! Anyone know how along a bottle in the fridge stays fresh - I am assuming it is similar to vermouth?

Late to the party, but yes, about the same as Rosso.

I tried this Campari because I don't have Aperol, but the Campari kills the Lillet blanc. Next time I should use Aperol or reduce the Campari.

In my experience, aromatized wines like Lillet, Dubonnet and Byrrh can’t stand up to Campari and the cocktail ends up unbalanced.

Luxardo Bitter Bianco didn't make a mark in this. Cocchi Americano, Campari, and Maker's Mark 46 was quite nice though. Less of a Campari-driven flavor profile compared to using the Luxardo. Kind of a bitter creamsicle vibe.

Campari is too powerful for the lighter aromatized wines, but the lighter Aperol etc are perfect. 2-1-1 Rye, Aperol, Byrrh is amazing.

Not the same run, but the same brand so I’ll leave this here (“Solera 20”):

Smells like the finishing barrel had a substantial amount of fortified wine left in it. I thought it was port, or possibly even red wine, but I can’t be entirely sure.

Tastes like a young rum was aged on a large amount of oak chips for a short period of time. A lot of spicy tannins, but too raw to be pleasant - just tastes like French oak tea.

I notice some countries seem to be labelled as “10 años” etc while my…

I forgot to add the lime juice and I think it was better without. The lime covers up most of the floral flavors.

I agree - I only put in 15mL and still way too much, at least with the limes I have.

I guess, grapefruit juice and bitters. Or Dan's hue and saturation!

I had red grapefruit but ended up with a very pale pink as well.

Definitely not foolproof; the combination I ended up with was fairly putrid.

I thought the Byrrh was a bit too much in the background.

I cannot find a single cocktail in which I think the Punt e Mes could not be better replaced by almost any other vermouth that I have tried. Just does not do it for me.

I came back to try a Cynar variation; more of the Addington than the Froupe, but my curiosity led to this gem:
“ If you look up the word “froupe” in Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, you’ll find it means “To dive with a sudden impetuosity. A word out of use.” But more than that, it’s a word that never existed. Dr. Johnson, having misread the word “soupe,” meaning to swoop, created a new word.” from Professor Jack Lynch.

In a beautiful irony, I have found the “Fioupe” in the 1924 “Les Cocktails et Les Boissons Americaines”.

“Prepare in the tumbler half-filled with broken ice: Equal parts of Italian vermouth and good old Cognac, 1 teaspoon of Bénédictine. Stir well and pour into the cocktail glass with lemon zest.

Mr. Fioupe was, before the war, a very well-known figure throughout the Riviera.”

So “froupe” exists both as a word and a cocktail due to transliteration errors.

I think my rye wasn’t good enough for a spirit-forward cocktail, but I’m struggling to find anything that I like Punt e Mes in so that probably doesn’t help.

As part of my “Find a cocktail made with this litre bottle of Punt e Mes that I actually like”, I made this (one of my favourite cocktails) with 90 proof rye, VSOP armagnac and a Luxardo cherry and slice of pineapple dropped in (as per the original recipe).

I still feel it would be better with M&R Rosso (come at me, vermouth snobs).

Pleasant Manhattan, but surprisingly dominated by the tiny amount of Ardbeg 10 I used. Not quite sure what I think of it - I expected it to be more complex than it was.

Made with Luxardo Triplum, was mediocre. Maybe better with Cointreau, but there’s a thousand other similar sours out there to try so I’ll probably never get around to it.

I found the elderflower to be overly dominant, which I don’t really like.

The Last Word… eh, don’t really like it.

Bird is the Word #2, better, but still don’t love it.

Now the mezcal version… that’s where it’s at. But maybe I just love mezcal too much… is it better than an Avión de Papel with mezcal? The mystery remains unsolved.

I used Montenegro because I was out of Averna. 5 stars from me… maybe even 5+.

I was confused about all the sugar syrup comments. I thought it was quite nice without it. Wife thought it had a weird taste but might be the old bottle of Maraska Apricot.

I love bitter, but I felt the red bitter liqueur (Luxardo in my case, which I believe is less bitter than Campari) absolutely dominated the drink. Couldn’t even detect the St Germain, and the Bulldog gin I was using didn’t stand a chance (is there a Pitbull gin?).

Better than a Paper Plane in my opinion, and has been a hit when I made it for friends.

As someone who doesn’t like bourbon, it beats the original hollow. Especially with mezcal.