Forgive me if I seem to have cocktails on the brain these days. Blame it on a book I received for Christmas, a slim volume of 80 old-time cocktail recipes by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, entitled "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails." Only about ten minutes after I cracked the spine for the first time, I knew two things about this book: 1) Experimenting with the recipes was going to be a lot of fun; and 2) That same experimentation was going to cost me a lot of money.
And sure enough, in the month I've had "Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails" in my home, I have spent about $300 on ingredients. (I now have a bottle of crème de cacao in my bar, for crying out loud!) But what fun it's been! I've not kept track, but I estimate that I've tried somewhere between ten and fifteen of the recipes, and I must say there's not been a single dud among them. Of course, some have been better than others, like this month's TOTM.
The Corpse Reviver #2 is a deceptively simple cocktail with incredible flavour. It's made by combining in a cocktail shaker one ounce each of gin, fresh lemon juice, Cointreau and the French aperitif wine, Lillet Blanc, along with a drop of Pernod or pastis. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, into which you drop a stemless cherry. (If you're less than thrilled with the taste of maraschino cherries, as am I, then don't eat it when you get to the bottom of the Reviver, but do include it. It sets off the look of the drink beautifully.)
Try it, you'll like it. Then go out and buy the book so that you can have as much fun, and spend as much money, as I am.
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