Archive for April 2013

There Wolves!

thereWolves

There Wolves!

  • 2.0 oz. Reposado Tequila
  • 0.75 oz. sweet vermouth
  • 0.5 oz. dry vermouth
  • 2 drops liquid smoke

Stir without ice and pour into coupe.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Ooo, this was a tough one. It was actually the last cocktail I made from the ingredients I had leftover from the other Young Frankenstein drinks, with tequila from a Margarita, part of the sweet vermouth from a Manhattan, and a lemon twist and dry vermouth from a Martini. My initial thought was to use Sriracha or a cayenne hot sauce I had as my Abby Normal ingredient. Neither worked well. I spent a bit of time lingering on one variation that used a sweet Thai chili sauce, but eventually nixed it. I then purchased another hot sauce with a sweeter angle (honey habanero) and even tried a spicy wing sauce. In all cases, I was losing the tequila and even if the drink had an initial welcoming though unusual taste it quickly wore out that welcome.

I was about to throw up my hands and start rearranging some of my other drinks to allow for a different combination when it occurred to me to try my little bottle of liquid smoke which I acquired probably two years ago and had never utilized. Just a couple of drops is all you need to impart the hickory smoke flavor (it’s concentrated). I tasted it before stirring and really enjoyed it, so proceeded with a stir with ice and… then I didn’t like it. I lost the tequila again and actually felt the dry vermouth was dominant, though there was less of that than the sweet vermouth or tequila. The dilution of water just really brought it to the forefront.

So I tried it again, stirring without ice. Perfect. There wolves, there castle.