Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Bit Early for Cherry Blossoms

A while back I mentioned that I was interested in experimenting with a martini-like cocktail using kirschwasser in place of the dry vermouth.

A couple days ago, I gave it a whirl. Starting with the extra-dry (8-to-1) martini recipe from Mr. Boston Platinum, I simply replaced the 1/4 oz of vermouth with an equal quantity of kirsch, and then added a dash of orange bitters, per the classic original martini recipe described in the guide's introduction. In this first try, the cherry flavor of the kirsch was virtually undetectable, so I tried again, doubling the amount of kirsch and leaving everything else the same.

Honestly, this drink still tastes mostly like gin (I used Hendricks), but that's the way of all martinis, isn't it (and hardly a bad thing, I might add)? It does have a somewhat brighter flavor than a martini made with vermouth; while I wouldn't encourage anyone to run out and buy kirsch for this purpose, it might make an amusing variation if you have some at hand:

Martini Blossom
  • 2 oz gin
  • 1/2 oz kirschwasser
  • dash orange bitters
  • garnish w/twist of lime

BTW, if you don't already have orange bitters in your liquor cabinet, it can be hard to find in stores, but you can buy it online.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have excellent taste in gin my dear fellow. Carry on! If you'd like to experiment with some more unusual Hendrick's recipes, you can find many an interesting tipple on The Unusual Times.

Bachalon said...

Hello.

This is Bachalon from Pharyngula. Sorry I've been unable to get back to you until now. If you're still interested in talking, I know I'd be more than happy to clarify my statements.

Bill Dauphin said...

Not that it has anything to do with this post, but since you asked, Bachalon... as I said over at Pharyngula, I'm always up for talking, but I wasn't particularly invested in talking about comics. I thought you were saying that the people claiming comics and graphic novels were the same were "lumping the hack work in" with the good stuff... by which I thought you meant comics were hack work and graphic novels were the good stuff.

But I gather from your subsequent comments that's not what you meant, and that's cool; even if you had meant that, I probably wouldn't have argued with you about it beyond the one reply.

Now that you're here, check back every now and then. I promise the last month won't be the permanent pattern.