The Spirit World

These days, cocktail folks the world over are brushing the cobwebs off classic cocktails and returning them to circulation. Their digging into dusty drink books of yore have given us such delicious new-old hits as The Last Word, The Aviation, and The Clover Club, just to name three. Research in this area surely continues, to the glorification of all mankind.

The Widow’s Kiss Project is dedicated to testing the least-likely-looking formulae—the ones that might be skipped over by saner minds—in the hope of finding hidden gems like the Widow’s Kiss. On paper, apple brandy, yellow chartreuse, and Benedictine look like an awful combination, yet somehow the drink itself is delightful. Join me as I put my gullet on the line for science. Er, well, not science exactly, but still…

The Girard Flip

The Girard Flip is from Leo Engel’s 1878 American and Other Drinks. It’s listed as one of his specialties, and according to him is “styled after the grotesque dancers of that name, being their favourite beverage when thoroughly exhausted after their terpsichorean eccentricities.” Before anyone gets too excited, allow Merriam-Webster to point out that terpsichorean just means, “of or relating to dancing.” Here’s the recipe:

In a tumbler place the yolk of an egg, to this add about a tea-spoonful of noyeau; a dash of cayenne pepper; a half glass of brandy; a gill of ice. Fill up with new milk, shake well and strain.

Materials and Method:

I interpreted “glass” here to mean two ounces, so I threw in an ounce of Martell VS. For the egg I used an egg. The only noyeau I was able to find was the kind of cheesy (and bright pink!) Leroux stuff, unfortunately. Pepper’s pepper, and I probably used slightly under a gill of ice. Milk-wise, I’ll be honest, not only was my milk “new” only in the sense of “close to but not quite expired,” it was only 2%. Sorry, Leo. I’m a little short on cows.

The Verdict:

Shockingly, a solid C. I thought this baby was going to be a real stinker. I mean, really, cayenne pepper and walnut liqueur? But it mostly tasted like melted ice cream. I think with newer, wholer milk, and a touch more brandy and noyeau both it might be actually kind of okay. Though I didn’t finish it, and when I dumped the rest out all the cayenne seemed to have fallen to the bottom, so had I drunk that I might not have felt so charitable. All in all, not as bad as I thought.

The Widows Kiss Verdict on the Girard Flip: C: Not nearly as gross as it should be, but there are better drinks out there.

Next up, in the on-going Widow’s Kiss Project, is another Leo special, the Flip Flap. The dude’s got flair, I gotta give him that. Anyway, I’m going to locate me some kummel and come back with a real contender.