A friend is having a peacock-themed bridal shower and requested a “peacocktail” for the occasion. I had to extend the name a bit as the conjoined name doesn’t really sit well in my ear… but otherwise was happy to oblige.
The Peacock
- 1.5 oz. London Dry Gin
- 1.0 oz. Aperol
- 1.0 oz. Pink Grapefruit Marmalade syrup*
Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Top with 2.0 oz. chilled Prosecco and a lemon twist.
*For one drink, reduce 2.0 tbsps pink grapefruit marmalade in 1/3 cup boiling water for 3 minutes. Strain and let cool.
I wanted something bubbly, sweet and just a little extravagant. I would have gone more over the top with some crazy, show-off ingredients and techniques to match the name, but as this was something that others would be making I wanted it to be easy to do with fairly familiar ingredients, which was the challenge.
In the end, the bit of special that I added was the pink grapefruit marmalade, which added a bitterness with hints of sweet and tart. Easy to find, yet uncommon enough to add a bit of different pizzazz to the drink.
I mixed that with gin and Aperol, which adds to the bitterness and offers a beautiful hue. These are topped with sparkling Prosecco, which I like for its added sweetness, but you could go with an American sparkling, Cava, Champagne, etc., depending on how sweet or dry you wanted things. I thought sweet appropriate.
I suppose the garnish should be more flamboyant, but the lemon twist does everything that’s needed to add some crisp, bright notes at the end. If you want to find actual peacock feathers or add multiple colors of peel, have at it. I’ll be sipping away while you do so.
Had a drink called the “Sparkling” in Brooklyn at Dumont and loved it, but I can’t figure out the proper mix balance. It had a light grey, purple hue and tasted just right. I have tried to recreate it, but I have only failed. Any ideas?? Care to take the challenge? It would be most appreciated. 🙂
Here are the ingredients:
Lemoncello, Creme de Violette, Sparkling Wine, Paychaud’s Bitters
Many thanks for your consideration in advance- Lisa
P.S. The Peacock was inspired. I will enjoy trying it. Sounds lovely
Challenge accepted! I’ll see what I can do.
So without having tasted the drink obviously I can only make a guess, but playing with around with those four ingredients I at least put something together that I rather enjoyed. My take was:
1.5 oz. Lemoncello (Fabrizia)
0.5 oz. Creme de Violette
3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
I stirred that with ice, then topped with 3.0 oz. of chilled Korbel Extra Brut in a champagne flute.
The half ounce of Creme de Violette is certainly enough to give a purple hue to the drink, but not enough to overwhelm the end result with its sometimes-soapy flavor. The Lemoncello adds the sweetness, but with the dry sparkling wine it is properly offset. I like bitters, so I put in three dashes 🙂
I don’t know if this is close, but I thought it was a nice drink. You’ll have to tell me how it’s off (color, sweetness, etc.) and I can take another swing.