We return now for the second installment of 2017’s 26-part series…Proper Cocktail Hump Day! The rules for Proper Cocktail Hump Day are simple.
1) Choose or invent a cocktail recipe that we’ve never tried to make at home before;
2) Make the drink;
3) Drink the drink;
4) Write the drink up on a Wednesday.
A while back, we purchased some pear eau de vie from local distillery, Maggie’s Farm Rum. If you haven’t had or seen eau de vie before, it’s a double-distilled, colorless fruit brandy (not grape) that very clearly expresses the flavor of its base fruit. Maggie’s Farm Pear Eau de Vie has a beautiful, clean pear fragrance…but we had never really figured out what to do with it (except sip it on its own). Thus, it’s sat on our bar shelf, mostly unused, for quite some time — too long, in fact. So, we set out to remedy that issue with this week’s cocktail. After some online research, Fox came across a very tasty looking recipe. We present to you:
The California Widow (as described by creator Rafa García Febles on Kindred Cocktails)
3/4 oz Bluecoat gin
3/4 oz Maggie’s Farm Pear eau de vie
1/2 oz St Germain Elderflower liqueur
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Bénédictine
3/4 oz lemon juice
After we mixed, shook, and strained the ingredients into a coupe glass, the result was a boozy delight. It was a wonderfully balanced drink, with the pear playing off the floral notes and the floral notes playing off the medicinal character of the Green Chartreuse. You couldn’t even taste the liquor, despite it literally being 80% hard booze. Proceed with caution!
“You couldn’t taste it at all?” our pup Layla Grace seemed to say. “Think I’d better ver-uh-fy.”
“Silly Layla, you’re not old enough. What’s more, you can’t hold a coupe glass in your paws!”
Ahem. So, we recommend gathering up the necessary ingredients and making yourself a California Widow ASAP. We’ll see you again in two weeks, when we’ll (maybe) try making a drink that doesn’t involve gin!
Certainly looks loverly!