Here is one from "the lab" that I have spent the better part of the last few weeks trying to name, all the while while nursing a toothache. As I was getting ready to celebrate a trip to the dentist this afternoon, it struck me that "Toothache" was as good a name as any for this one! It's basically an "improved" version of the Neuva Jersey recipe I posted last December.
As for the taste, your eyelids may stay closed a beat longer than usual as you sip this one. Taking in the slightly sweet, smoked apple against the bright, almost medicinal aromas of the absinthe and wormwood bitters, it is easy to get lost in your senses.
This is an extremely enjoyable sipper, and one that has been well tested here in the lab I can assure you.
Toothache
1.5 ounces (45 ml) Laird's 100 proof bonded apple brandy
1.5 ounces (45 ml) Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1 tsp Demerara Syrup*
2 "sprays" of absinthe
1 dash angostura bitters
1 dash Cocktail Kingdom Wormwood bitters (optional, but really nice)
*Demerara syrup= Mix 2 cups of demerara sugar with 1 cup of just boiled water in a sauce pan. Stir until mostly combined, adding gentle heat if necessary to get the mixture mostly saturated. Pour 1/2 ounce (15 ml) vodka into clean bottle, then pour the sugar/water mixture into the clean bottle, cap, and shake bottle until sugar is completely dissolved (it won't take long at that point).
As with the building of any Old Fashioned Cocktail, there is a certain ritual I have found that works best to create this drink:
Add 1 tsp of Demerara syrup to bottom of a double old fashioned glass. Then add 1-2 dashes of Angostura bitters.
Add ice cube, stir the sugar/bitter mix for a few seconds. Then add 1.5 ounces of apple brandy.
Stir again 4-5 times and then spray in a few squirts of absinthe from a small atomizer, enough to coat the interior of the glass.
Add more ice and the mezcal, stir again and add few dashes of Cocktail Kingdom's Wormwood bitters if you have them. Add lemon twist for garnish and you're ready for a toothache, or anything else that may come your way.
Mmm, that does sound like a kicker. Liquor is quicker, indeed! Anyway, it's a nice name for a cocktail. Coincidentally, vodka can be used as a toothache remedy, which is perhaps due to the alcohol content.
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