Our second cocktail is the Irish Old Fashioned. An Old Fashioned variant created by Jack McGarry, which uses Irish whiskey (specifically Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey).
Irish whiskey is generally sweeter than most bourbons, so McGarry replaces the sugar with Benedictine, which both adds some sweetness as well as some botanical depth, which is further enhanced by the two types of bitters.
Our third and final cocktail is the Port in a Storm, a dark, richly flavoured cocktail combining Ruby Port with Scotch whisky and a dash of cognac.
A good accompaniment to a cheese board?
Our second cocktail is the Banana Bread. This is a banana, creamy and nutty after dinner cocktail.
Our first cocktail is the Rum Negroni.This is a Negroni variant which es golden rum instead of gin.
There are quite a few e variants of the Negroni which are quite different to the original.
Our third and final cocktail is the Absinthe Ritual. this is the traditional French way of drinking absinthe; you may see it under the name of Absinthe Drop Cocktail.
As well as being very strong (assuming you buy the real thing), Absinthe is also quite a bitter spirit, so you will never see it being drunk neat the way you will with a whiskey, brandy or rum. The absinthe ritual uses water and sugar to both weaken the strength and also add sweetness to make the absinthe more palatable.
In 19th century Parisian cafés, upon receiving an order for an absinthe, a waiter would present the patron with a dose of absinthe in a suitable glass, sugar, absinthe spoon, and a carafe of iced water. It was up to the patron to prepare the drink, as the inclusion or omission of sugar was strictly an individual preference, as was the amount of water used. As the popularity of the drink increased, additional accoutrements of preparation appeared, including the absinthe fountain, which was effectively a large jar of iced water with spigots, mounted on a lamp base. This let drinkers prepare a number of drinks at once – and with a hands-free drip, patrons could socialise while louching a glass.
Our second cocktail is the Dorflinger, which is a pre-Prohibition Martini-style cocktail named for Christian Dorflinger of White Mills, Pennsylvania, who was famed for creating fine glassware.
Our first cocktail is the Fairy Cream, a creamy, chocolatey, indulgent cocktail which was created in 2010 by Dick Bradsell.
I thought I’d start with a dessert cocktail and build up through to the traditional French method of drinking absinthe.
Absinthe is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of Artemisia absinthium (“grand wormwood”), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. Historically described as a highly alcoholic spirit, it is 45–74% ABV or 90–148 proof US. Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but may also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as la fée verte (“the green fairy”). It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a liqueur, but is not traditionally bottled with added sugar, so is classified as a spirit. Absinthe is traditionally bottled at a high level of alcohol by volume, but it is normally diluted with water before being consumed.
World Absinthe day was started to celebrate the renaissance of this spirit which has been returning to popularity over the last few years.
Later today, we will share the traditional French “Absinthe Ritual”, sometimes called the “Absinthe Drip Cocktail” as well as two other cocktails with a large absinthe content. Join us for these cocktails from 1900.
Our third and final cocktail is the Rum Old Fashioned, a variation of the Old Fashioned which switches out the bourbon for dark rum.