Perfect Amaretto Sour

Jeffrey Morganthaler claims this is the Perfect Amaretto Sour:

• 1.50 ounces Amaretto
• 0.75 ounce cask-proof bourbon
• 1.00 ounce lemon juice
• 0.50 ounce egg white, beaten
• 1 tsp of 2:1 simple syrup

Dry shake ingredients to combine, then shake well with cracked ice. Strain over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon peel and brandied cherries.

Spoiler, he would be right.

I’ve made well over 100 cocktails at this point and not a single one of them called for Amaretto, an almond-flavored liquor from Italy. I do have a bottle (I think I’ve used it in baking) and I do remember drinking a few Amaretto Sours in my misspent youth. Mainly I associate them with a sweeter, less powerful margarita, and I hadn’t thought of them much until this weekend.

Straits Sling

The Dead Rabbit version of the Straits Sling:

• 0.50 ounce Lemon Sherbet
• 1.50 ounces Bols Genever gin
• 0.50 ounce Cherry Herring
• 0.50 ounce Benedictine
• 0.50 ounce kirsch eau de vie
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3 dashes Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters or Angostura Aromatic Bitters
• 1.50 ounces rhubarb soda
• Fresh nutmeg, grated, for garnish Add all the ingredients, except the soda and garnish, to a shaker. Fill with ice and shake. Strain into an ice filled tall glass. Add the soda and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

This is my second recipe from the Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, which is more a book of alchemy than recipes.

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The Negroni

Beautiful and bitter, it’s The Negroni:

• 1 ounce gin or vodka
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1 ounce Campari Stir vigorously in an iced mixing glass. Strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

The first time I went to Italy (many years ago), my friend Antonio took me to a bar in Naples. All of the beautiful people were standing around looking beautiful with lovely sparkling red drinks in their hands. To me it looked like fizzy cherry Kool-Aid, and I asked about it. I was told it was “Campari and soda” and I ordered one.

Wild Irish Rose

My first cocktail by Dead Rabbit, the Wild Irish Rose:

• 0.75 ounce Pomegranate Syrup
• 1.00 ounce Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey
• 1.00 ounce Laird’s Applejack Bonded Proof
• 1.00 ounce Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 3 dashes Bittermens Burlesque Bitters
• 3 dashes Pernod Absinthe
• 1 large egg white

Pre-chill a punch glass. Add all the ingredients to a shaker. Fill with ice and shake. Strain into the punch glass.

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Rusty Nail

Like Smoky Scotch? Have a Rusty Nail:

• 2 ounces good smoky Scotch
• 1 ounce Drambuie

Combine in a small rocks glass on a couple of lumps of ice and swizzle. Garnish with a lemon twist.

I don’t like peaty Scotches. I’m not saying they are bad, it’s just that I don’t care for them. I know that some people seek them out, which has resulted in high peat bottlings such as the Peat Monster, but they just aren’t my thing. De gustibus non est disputandum.

White Lady

Gin and lemon meet again in the White Lady:

• 1.50 ounces gin
• 0.75 ounce Cointreau
• 0.75 ounce fresh lemon juice

Combine in an iced cocktail shaker. Shake, and strain into a cocktail glass.

I was first introduced to the White Lady through my friend Justin. When he was the cocktail chef at the Oakleaf, he would host “Throwback Thursdays” which would feature vintage cocktails. Each menu would have a theme, and I loved this one:

The Original Margarita

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, it’s The Original Margarita:

• 1.5 ounce blanco tequila
• 1.5 ounce Cointreau
• 1.5 ounce fresh lime juice

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker. Strain into a large cocktail glass, rim crusted with salt.

Since this recipe is from the appendix of Dr. Cocktail’s book, there are just recipes and almost no exposition, so I can’t add much to the history. This recipe is presented as the “original” Margarita and it is backed up by Wikipedia, which states it was invented in Mexico in October of 1941 and consisted of equal parts tequila, orange liqueur and lime, and was served with a salted rim. The idea of using sugar or salt on the rim of a cocktail glass goes all the way back to the Brandy Crusta.