After a rather long day, it was nice to come home to The Brooklyn Cocktail:

  • 2.00 ounces rye or bourbon
  • 0.75 ounce dry vermouth
  • 2 teaspoons Amer Picon
  • 2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur

Stir in a mixing glass with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry

There are times when I want a particular type of cocktail. I don’t know if there is a word for it, but these are drinks made up just of spirits (with perhaps a dash or two of bitters) and might be considered “manly” drinks: your Manhattans and your martinis.

As I was preparing this drink, it dawned on me that it is very similar to one of my all time favorites: Life is Beautiful. Although the portions are different, substitute cherry brandy for the maraschino liqueur, sweet vermouth for dry, and Montenegro Amaro for the Amer Picon and you have drinks that, while not the same, could be siblings. This made me very eager to taste it.

Plus, it gave me an excuse to use some of my hard won Amer Picon. Made from a recipe from Jamie Boudreau, it took me several months to prepare and it worked well in this cocktail.

The ingredients come together well and I thoroughly enjoyed this beverage. It is ever so slightly more bitter than the Life is Beautiful but it is still a balanced cocktail, and it had the desired effect of relaxing me after a stressful work day.

Rating: 4/5

Notes: I used small batch Bulleit Rye, called for in my namesake Tarus the Bull, which worked out nicely. The vermouth was Dolin and the maraschino liqueur was Luxardo.

The Brooklyn Cocktail