Gareth Hives

This has lovely balance. We imagine that the creator had in mind a gentle and elegant late night drink. Which it is. And perhaps one for the ladies, if that isn't an outrageously politically incorrect thing to say. In our experience, the ladies and the gentlemen do have different preferences. But we digress. To make it a gentleman's drink, a wee bit more assertive, we used Cognac and added just a gentlemanly dash of Bitter Truth aromatic bitters. We also thought that Averna was too stolid here and substituted Nardini Amaro for its bright but subtle notes. The great thing about recipes that fit in a Nick and Nora glass is that one can experiment with them of an evening, over an hour or so, without getting legless.

I do like to read your comments Simon, playing around with a drink or two over an evening is my idea of heaven as well. Do you live somewhere warm? I’m in England and get to sit out at the bar experimenting probably May-Sept absolute max. We had a few sunny evenings recently and are just getting into outdoor bar season ish now.

Wowser 10 ingredients with very specific measurements, must have taken a lot of these to get it right 🤣 have wishlisted for when I have some ‘me’ time at the bar

Well that’s rather nice, the 50 and 10 split of rums really adds something. I did do 10 Falernum and skipped the sugar as the rum has enough sweetness for my taste already. Lovely.

I'm happy to hear that my recipe is still there. I do enjoy these conversations, even though I didn't notice this thread last year! Cheers!

I think that’s the beauty of the expanded comments section now. Diffords have built a great community on here, I read almost everything and what you guys all comment is the heart and soul of the site. I see the Friday night email has worked again, we’re all drinking this right now. Cheers everyone.

Revisited this as realised I’d omitted the lemon zest last.time. Wow, love this even more now. The VC is a little harsh for me and I think it’s the rye, La Vina aside I think I’m not a fan of rye whiskey. This though is amazing. Really enjoying every sip.

Never tried an Angustura heavy drink before, I guess 1/4 of a bottle is a big investment if it’s not your thing. Need to get my big boy pants on. It’s clearly a nice drink but my brain says no

Thank you , very very nice drink. Into the favourites you pop