An odd name for a Valentine’s Day drink, it’s The Widow’s Kiss:
- 1.50 ounces Calvados
- 0.75 ounce Chartreuse (Green was meant, but yellow mellows the drink a bit)
- 0.75 ounce Benedictine
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
There is a little story behind my choosing the make this drink just now. My friend Justin is the cocktail chef at the Oakleaf restaurant. He’s started this new theme night called “Throwback Thursdays” which features $8 vintage cocktails. He tends to have five recipes that have some sort of theme, be it “gin” or “election year”, etc.
For the Valentine’s Day menu I suggested he do drinks like The Rose, the Hanky Panky, the Pink Lady, the Have a Heart Cocktail and the Honeymoon. He texted me right back with a picture of the menu he’d written:
Great minds think alike. He went with the Jack Rose instead of the Rose (I really don’t care for the Jack Rose), and instead of the Pink Lady he added The Widow’s Kiss. His menu runs for two consecutive Thursdays so while I missed last week I should be able to go there this week, and I wanted to make this cocktail before I went.
I’m glad I did, as it wasn’t a favorite. Perhaps Justin can make it better but I found it to be slightly too herbal. I think the hint to use Yellow Chartreuse instead of Green is a good one (I don’t have any Yellow Chartreuse and I love the Green in The Last Word). The Chartreuse and Benedictine together make up half of this drink and it comes across as a little too bitter.
Note that if I were making this from the ingredients alone I would have stirred this instead of shaking it. However, Dr. Cocktail says to shake, so I shake (and a couple of other places say to shake it as well). It makes the drink a little cloudy – it was starting to clear when I took the picture but I drank it before it cleared all the way.
Rating: 3/5
Notes: I used Drouin Calvados.