The Spirit World

Finding new and interesting cocktails is always a challenge. There are far too many drinks coming onto the scene which are almost as though somebody tossed some trendy ingredients into a glass with some vodka, and thought it was a pinnacle of craftsmanship. Clearly not.

There are two ways which I like to rely on for finding new cocktail, one is to search through old books and see what sort of recipes have already been created, and subsequently forgotten, and once in a while stumble upon a real gem. There are several drinks which have become commonplace in the best bars across the country which fall into this category. The Last Word, Pegu, and the Aviation, just to mention a few. These drinks are making the rounds mostly because of the Internet, and the ability for the re-discoveries of such drinks to be quickly spread around the world.

Another way of discovering interesting cocktails is to simply participate in some of the various forums and blogs which people are sharing some of their thoughts and ideas on some of the new cocktails they are playing around with.

Myself, I am always partial to cocktails that are both simplistic in ingredients, and robust in flavor. Recently somebody posted a recipe they were messing around with on a discussion forum that I run, and my interest was immediately sparked when I saw both Chartreuse and Scotch listed as ingredients. The only other ingredient in the drink was Lillet, which is a far overlooked ingredient, and only further attracted me to this recipe. I, of course, gave it a try as soon as I got home that night.

Green CSM

• 35 ml Green Chartreuse (chilled for the fridge or freezer)
• 15 ml Lillet Blanc
• 5 ml Lagavulin 16 yrs (or any heavy peaty malt)

Stir in a mixing glass and strain in a cocktail glass.
Garnish with green grapes.

Mickael recommended that the Chartreuse was chilled to begin with to help tame the flavor a little. Myself I didn’t want to wait before having it, so I mixed it straight away, and was just sure to use a lot of ice, and stir long enough to chill it well. I also used Laphroaig since I didn’t have Lagavulin on hand.

The results was absolutely fascinating. The complex flavor of the Chartreuse was sitting nestled between the softness of the Lillet which accentuated the softer side of the Chartreuse, and the complex peatiness of the Scotch blended amazingly well with the robust herbal flavor. The only drawback of this drink was that it was perhaps a bit too flavor-forward for the common cocktail drinker, and while I liked it very much as it was, I perhaps would consider trying to soften those over-the-top flavors by adding vodka to it as an example of the perfect way that vodka can play an important role in the culinary cocktail.