The Stone and the Rose

• 1.0 oz. bonded apple brandy (Laird’s)
• 1.0 oz. bonded rye (Rittenhouse)
• 0.5 oz. Crème de Noyaux (Tempus Fugit)
• 0.5 oz. sweet vermouth
• dash of Peychaud’s

Stir with ice and strain into coupe. Garnish with cherry.

So I’ve had this Crème de Noyaux sitting on my shelf for a few years and never quite knew what to do with it. It has an almond flavor, but actually is distilled from apricot and cherry pits, then combined with bitter almonds. It’s tasty and interesting, but I was initially uninspired to create something with it. Recently I’ve challenged myself to utilize some of these bottles that I’ve previously ignored, and in this case I am loving the result.

I started with the apple brandy which I thought worked well with the nuttiness. I split the base with the rye to add a little more peppery punch. To round things out I added the sweet vermouth, and then Peychaud’s for that last kick and color.

For the name I wanted to include some nod to the pits or the stone fruit of the liqueur. Obviously I arrived at using ‘stone’, and to accompany that I chose ‘rose’, not only for the color, but to acknowledge the inclusion of the apple brandy, as apples are pome fruits that are in the rose family (botany research!). Of course, that just sounded like something out of Camelot, hence the sword piercing the cherry at the bottom.

You don’t have to be Merlin to know this liqueur won’t last long now.