The Architecture of the Cocktail: Constructing The Perfect Cocktail From The Bottom Up

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ABBEY (#ulink_84206fc4-90be-578a-8391-1aa1e4865a9c)

While the raw materials of the Abbey are certainly the good stock of a well-constructed cocktail, it’s this drink’s orange-hued elegance that draws you in immediately. Like an aesthetically pleasing building, statue, or park, you are first taken in by the beauty of the sum of its parts. Ah, but what good parts it has! The Abbey is a genteel tipple, using the whisperingly sweet French-wine-based aperitif Lillet to highlight and support the botanicals in its main spirit, gin, as well as the bright and bitter accent of the orange bitters. The drink made its first appearance in the venerable Savoy Cocktail Book, circa 1930, and while it has not garnered the fame of other, more well-known cocktails, this nearly forgotten, refreshing tipple is more than worth taking a moment to discover and admire.

THE NOTES

Place 6 or 7 square ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Pour in 1½ fluid ounces (45ml) of gin, coating the ice. Add in ¾ fluid ounce (22ml) of Lillet Blonde, ¾ fluid ounce (22ml) of fresh orange juice, and 1 dash of orange bitters. Shake in a vertical motion for 30 seconds. Strain slowly into a cocktail glass. Using a channel knife or standard vegetable peeler, gently slice only the skin (avoiding the bitter pith) of an orange above the drink and drop the peel into the glass.

ADONIS (#ulink_e459e346-fdf5-54eb-b7fe-c23f1b9dc116)

To simply send a person out on a mission to get sherry for the classic tipple the Adonis is like asking a carpenter to go out to buy some wood to make a floor. Should it be oak? Teak? Cherry? Which kind? You need to specify or you’ll get something entirely different from what you envisioned. Sherry, as you may well know, can range in flavor from lip-smackingly dry, to nutty and mild, to rich and sweet. In the case of the Adonis, you want to lean toward the drier side of sipping and opt for a light, dry fino sherry, as this cocktail is best when served as a sophisticated, light predinner aperitif.

THE NOTES

Place 6 or 7 square ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Pour in 1½ fluid ounces (45ml) of fino sherry, coating the ice. Add in ½ fluid ounce (15ml) each of dry and sweet vermouth and 1 dash of orange bitters. Using a long bar spoon, quickly stir the cocktail’s ingredients for 30 seconds. Strain slowly into a coupe glass. Using a channel knife or standard vegetable peeler, gently slice only the skin (avoiding the bitter pith) of an orange above the drink and drop the peel into the glass.

ALLEGHENY (#ulink_a217ac87-ccd9-5430-9933-bc2246ad064a)

If you build it, they will come—more or less—that’s the loose history of the Allegheny cocktail in a nutshell. Or, perhaps, in a whiskey still. The name itself comes from the chain of peaks that is part of the Appalachian mountain chain in America, and supposedly the drink was made to honor the hardscrabble pioneers who crossed that range and settled the state of Kentucky—and apparently founded the ironically dry Bourbon County, where corn whiskey moonshine was distilled in the quiet of the thick Appalachian woods. A good story certainly makes for a great creation, but what’s truly lovely about this drink is the way the rich, ripe, fruity flavor of the blackberry brandy teases out the vanilla notes and dark baking-spice flavors in the bourbon whiskey.

THE NOTES