Wicked Kiss (Death & Co. Recipe)

Not all fall drinks have cinnamon and apple juice. This one is a wicked kiss because of 100-proof Rittenhouse rye and Laird's applejack 86-proof apple brandy. Angostura ties these flavors together with Dolin Genepy (my stand-in for Yellow Chartreuse) and Benedictine, which are very herbaceous and spicy without the cinnamon. This is a simple stirred drink that hits you quickly, so you don't have to overdo the cider drinks that proliferate at this time of year.

• 1 oz. Rittenhouse rye
• 1 oz. Laird's applejack 86
• 1/4 oz. Yellow Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy used)
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe. 

 

Enchanted Orchard (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Now we are getting into those thoroughly fall-style cocktails with apple cinnamon flavors. I'm going to be going in this direction for several weeks, each post being progressively more autumnal. 

This cocktail is unusual among its brethren in having pisco be the main ingredients. Yes there is apple cinnamon and spice, but the pisco is very neutral and yet still a fruit brandy spirit. I like the addition of pineapple juice and applejack to produce an exotic apple taste without there being any fresh apple juice present. All in all, this is a chameleon of a cocktail. As soon as you think you have it figured out, the Benedictine  or the pineapple juice or honey snap your taste buds in a different direction. 

• 1 1/2 oz. pisco (Capel used)
• 1/2 oz. calvados (Laird's applejack 86 used)
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. acacia honey syrup
• 1 cinnamon stick garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a double rocks glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with the cinnamon stick.

Nitty-Gritty (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

The inventor of this drink says that this cocktail is a riff on the Fifty-Fifty Martini, which is exactly what it sounds like: Half gin and half dry vermouth. What the hell is this, then? Many ingredients, none of them vermouth... If you are making a Martini variation, I don't want to see Benedictine or pear brandy. 

That sounds harsh, though. I really loved this cocktail. It is unusual to see dry Manzanilla and mezcal used in the same drink, much less pear brandy and Benedictine. And the bartender's note was absolutely right. Sometimes a rich-tasting ingredient like mezcal (which is quite dry in texture) mixed with a dry fortified wine like Manzanilla feels too dry to drink. It's like you need sugar to pull apart the wild flavors of mezcal and sherry when they are mixed in these quantities and chilled. And that is why the agave syrup was a brilliant move. 

Pear is also a difficult flavor to detect when searching for it in a dry pear brandy. Agave syrup helps with that, but apple bitters also suggests pie fruits and baked notes. That's what this cocktail finally brings home. It is a pie drink that is on the dry side and perfect for appetizers rather than dessert. 

• 1 1/2 oz. del Maugey mezcal
• 1/2 oz. Manzinilla sherry (Orleans used)
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. pear brandy (Catoctin Creek used)
• 1/2 tsp. agave nectar
• 1 dash bar coke baked apple bitters
• 1 dash aromatic bitters (Hella used)
• lemon twist garnish

Combine all ingredients except twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupt and garnish with the lemon twist. 

May Fair (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This Vieux Carre adaptation is an intense dive into the world of herbal liquors. The original cocktail chef from Death & Co. explains that they tried to meld two different styles of aquavit--one that is traditional carraway and another that is more anise-forward. The idea is not only sound, but appropriate given the anise flavor that appears in many New Orleans cocktails like the Vieux Carre. 

I was fortunate to have two kinds of homemade aquavit with exactly these same characteristics. My Altungstad aquavit has a heap of anise along with its more traditional ingredients. The other is made with MurLarkey Divine Clarity Vodka and Justice White Whiskey and the normal mix of caraway, fennel, cumin and angelica seeds. It is interesting how different the two are and I was proud to feature them in this superb cocktail. 

• 1 oz. London dry gin (Bloom used)
• 1/2 oz. Krogstad aquavit (Homemade Altungstad used)
• 1/2 oz. Linie aquavit (Homemade traditional aquavit used)
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth (Cocchi Dopo Teatro used)
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 2 dashes Peychauds bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 orange twist

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into an Old Fashioned glass with one large rock. Twist the orange zest over the drink and drop it in. 

Poire Man's Cobbler (Death & Co. Recipe)

This little bon mot of a drink is a Pear Cobbler (a type of sweetened brandy cocktail on crushed ice). The joke comes from Poire (French for pear), which is used in the garnish and muddled into the spirits. It is one of the better Cobblers out there (keeping in mind that there are some sub-par Port and Sherry Cobblers fit only for consumption on winter holidays and even then in the privacy of your own home.

Peychaud's and Benedictine take this drink in a fun, spicy direction. But apple brandy is the main ingredient that thrusts the pear juice into relief. I don't have Calvados, but Laird's Applejack 86 is more than up to the task.

• 2 oz. Busnel VSOP Calvados (Laird's Applejack 86 used)
• 1/4 ripe Bartlett pear, cubed
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine, 
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 1 pear slice

Muddle the cubed pear in the shaker, then add the remining liquid ingredients and ice and shake. Strain over crushed ice in an Old Fashioned glass and garnish with the pear slice. 

 

Little Miss Annabelle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This cocktail is very light and French tasting--more of a Normandy cocktail with Benedictine and pear notes than the excessively absinthed cocktails of Paris. I like the balance that the small bit of Benedictine brings to this cocktail. It adds herbs and sweetness but doesn't overwhelm the brandies. 

Catoctin Creek pear is in there in a small proportion and you notice it because it is a bit of a distraction from the grape notes of the cognac. This is an excellent cocktail for someone who is new to French spirits because it is well rounded and shows off cognac and Benedictine without hitting you over the head.

• 2 oz. of cognac (Meukow VS used)
• 1/4 oz. pear liqueur (Catoctin Creek pear brandy used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 1/4 oz. cane sugar syrup
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Shruff's End

This scotch cocktail is really going for medicinal flavors. There's nothing wrong with it, but it is a little jarring to smell and taste something that has iodine and plastic notes in it like a hospital wing or a box of Band-Aid bandages.

All of the ingredients are designed to magnify the medicinal quality, from the Peychaud's bitters to the Islay scotch--Laphroaig 10 is specified--and even the Benedictine and apple brandy are a calculated ploy to add other properties to the nose and taste that strike one as a medicinal compound from a pharmacy. And let's face it, cocktails were born at pharmacies and were used as curatives for all sorts of things before Prohibition and the FDA. It just takes a little getting used to these flavors. After sitting with them for a while, you start to appreciate what this cocktail is doing with ingredients; and you do start to feel like it is having a healthful effect on you. 

I'm not sure what occasion warrants a dose of Shruff's End, but this is clearly not a drink for all occasions and more of a specific tool for scratching a particularly unusual itch.

• 1 oz. Laphroaig 10 (Laphroaig Select used(
• 1 oz. Laird's bonded apple brandy (Applejack 86 used)
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Midnight Mass (Death & Co. Recipe)

I love the imagery that this name evokes. Benedictine and Cardamaro give this Latin Mass of a drink a whiff of  incense. It's herbs, after all. And a stirred rum cocktail can take on the airs of holy water in bottles found in a monastery's reliquary. Most of that is all marketing, however. But so is the magic behind bartending. There are no saints in this industry, and magical elixirs are all basically the same alcohol molecule. 

There is something to be said about proportions and preparation in bartending that makes it somehow more sanctified when done well. Benedictine, while not made by monks, has the ability to transport drinkers to a simpler time when real art was behind every recipe that came from French liqueur distillers. 

And amari are the same way. Cardamaro may taste like spiced boiled sweets, but it is actually a wine infusion with gentian and cardamom, not something that I'd feel comfortable making myself. I'll leave it to the experts and pretend that they have a special relationship with God.

• 2 oz. Scarlet Ibis rum (Rhum Barbancourt used)
• 3/4 oz. Cardamaro
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas bitters (Hella aromatic used)
• 1 orange twist as garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the orange twist.

 

Cynard de Bergerac (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Bergerac is a French wine region known for its combination of Cabernet and Merlot grapes. This particular cocktail requires the mix of ingredients in its "Bergerac Mix" In the Death & Co. book, this works out as 6 parts blended red wine (Bergerac), 1.5 parts Cynar, 1.5 parts black strap rum (homemade used), and 1/2 part Demerara syrup. This stuff is bittersweet and savory, adding its own color and sweetness to any cocktail. 

The rest of the Cynard de Bergenac involves genever, old Tom gin, and Benedictine. It is further flavored with a dash of absinthe and Aztec chocolate bitters. The end result is a wine and gin cocktail that really comes across like a dark rum punch with lots of barrel-aged notes from the genever and an herbal lift from the absinthe. It is grounded, however by chocolate and orange in the finish. You almost can't taste the Benedictine, but it is in there adding sweetness and texture. All the way through, you get red wine tannin from Cabernet. It is pretty overwhelming and easily underestimated in such a cute little glass. 

• 1 1/2 oz. Bergerac mix
• 1 oz. Bols barrel-aged genever
• 1/2 oz. Vitae Old Tom gin
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1 dash absinthe vert
• 1 dash Aztec chocolate bitters (Fee Brothers used)
• orange twist garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Roll the orange twist tightly and skewer on a cocktail pick.

Baracuda #2

I take it that the Baracuda name suggests a tropical drink. The #2, however is simple with classic lines, a far cry from the tiki-style pineapple shell drink called Baracuda #1. The flavors of fresh grapefruit juice, gin, and Benedictine are made for each other. MurLarkey ImaGination gin, with it's basil and malty tasting botanicals is a perfect match.

• 1 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. Benedictine
• 2 oz. grapefruit juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Amsterdamer (Original Cocktial)

I picked up this bottle of barrel-aged Bol's Genever. It is one of a few precursors to modern gin. The difference is that it is a spirit that is distilled from maltwine and infused with botanicals. That is to say, unlike gin, genever has a malted barley base and the flavors are not added during distillation but after.

All of this makes Bol's very rich with darker malty flavors with a body closer to whiskey since it is barrel aged for eighteen months. It lends itself well to a boozy, whiskey-like drink like this one.

• 2 oz. Bol's Barrel Aged Genever
• 1 oz. benedictine
• maraschino cherry 

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the cherry. 

Yellowjacket

This simple cocktail dresses up a basic Screwdriver with the rich herbal flavor of Benedictine. I love how it is surprisingly familiar, yet special--a holiday treat that you don't usually enjoy throughout the whole year.

Benedictine is a brandy spirit from France that is forty proof and flavored with fruits and herbs. It shares some similarities with the stronger Alpine spirit, Green Chartreuse.

• 1 oz. Benedictine
• 1 oz. vodka (Belvedere used)
• 4 oz. orange juice
• (optional citrus and cherry garnish)

Build the drink in a chilled highball glass full of ice with vodka and Benedictine, then top with orange juice and stir. Garnish at will. 

Bee Sting

This cocktail is easy to make and relies on the herbaceous Benedictine and the vanilla notes of bourbon to dress up ordinary orange juice. This is one of the few cocktails I've made with Ragged Branch bourbon from Charolottesville, VA.

This is not an original cocktail, nor is it a classic. It was created by Benedictine as a suggestion for using their spirit. Sometimes I find that they are really on the mark with their recipes. Other times, I feel that I'm better at mixing with the sweet liqueur. But when I'm pressed for options, I'll often take any suggestion availalble.

• 1 oz. Bourbon (Ragged Branch wheated used)
• 1 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 2 oz. orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Garnish at will.

Savoy Hotel

The Savoy Hotel's cocktail is a pousse cafe, a drink that uses the different viscosity of the liqueurs to stack them in a narrow glass with well defined layers. It didn't really work with my house made creme de cacao, however. The Benedictine was heavier and sank to the bottom. If you do have a creme de cacao that is dark, it should be heaviest, since Benedictine has more alcohol than creme de cacao (except for mine).

The problem with the drink is the look. If you are using dark creme de cacao, it really will look like a brown layer, not easily distinguishable from a brown liquor like brandy. Benedictine will make a slightly green layer between two brown rings, not pretty even it it is well made.

• 3/4 oz. dark creme de cacao
• 3/4 oz. Benedictine
• 3/4 oz. brandy (cognac please)

Pour each liquor over a spoon into a pousse cafe glass, gently layering them in the order that they are listed.

B & B

This drink is a simple cognac and Benedictine mix that's intended to make your Benedictine sipped neat a little more affordable by cutting it with brandy. You can even buy B & B in the bottle, which is significantly cheaper than a bottle of Benedictine. I went for the bottle of Benedictine knowing that I could always cut it with cognac if I needed to, but that I could also mix it with gin without adding the oak flavor of cognac.

• 1 oz. cognac
• 1 oz. Benedictine 

Pour both ingredients into a snifter and swirl. 

Pousse L'Amour

Pousse Cafe are a strange concept for a layered mixed drink that uses liqueurs with different specific gravities. They were very popular between 1830 and 1860, and there was even a Pousse Cafe glass that was in fashion at the time that made layering easier. Pousse Cafe made a brief comeback in the mid nineties, more as a way for bartenders to show off their mixing skills than as a good way to enjoy spirits. I just got a Pousse Cafe glass that really shows the layers of the drink.

The recipe recommends putting egg yolk after maraschino liqueur--and I whipped the yolk rather than leave it whole, because you can't sip whole egg--but it turns out that Benedictine that goes in after the egg is heavier and so they changed places. The last layer is the lightest spirit, in this case Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royal. I'll list the ingredients in the order that works best, not the way the recipe I followed worked. That should prevent the egg yolk from sliding around.

• 1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. egg yolk (whipped)
• 1/2 oz. cognac (Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royal used)

Pour the ingredients into a narrow glass in the order given. Carefully pour over the back of a spoon to get a layered effect.

Brighton Punch

I'm not sure what about this drink signifies the city of Brighton or even what it is referring to. What I did notice was that it was perfectly sized to fit in a tiki mug like Artie, here. This was a very bourbon and brandy cocktail. I made B & B by combining equal parts Benedictine and Courvoisier VS. So Brighton Punch is very rich and strong.

• 2 oz. B & B (Courvoisier VS and Benedictine used)
• 1 1/2 oz. bourbon
• club soda
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• orange slice

Combine B & B and bourbon, orange juice and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a grim faced tiki mug and top with crushed ice and soda. Garnish with orange slice.

Rolls Royce

This is a "Luxury Car" cocktail series drink I have been planning to make since I got Antica Formula vermouth. It isn't luxury without good vermouth, after all. You can see the Golden Cadillac and I will soon make a Bentley. Like the Monte Carlo, it also uses Benedictine, but I wanted to feature Bada Bing cherries in this entry.

The Rolls Royce doesn't call for a cherry garnish, but Bada Bings aren't maraschino cherries. They are rich and plump bing cherries, a flavor that goes well with this herbal Martini variation. Bada Bing are organic with no artificial coloring, so if you have issues with maraschino cherries, these won't bother you.

The Rolls Royce recipe according to the NY bartender's guide is as follows:

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Guillotine

Not as deadly as it sounds, the Guillotine is a sweet and herbaceous drink from the Benedictine marketing team. Most of their drinks are either creamy desserts or sours of a sort, and this is the latter. I've taken a few weeks off from my French liqueurs and it is nice to be using them again. Sometimes I get a taste for Benedictine that I can't ignore and I find myself going back to it often.

• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 tsp sugar syrup

 Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Monte Carlo

I don't think this drink is named after the city so much as the car. I believe that it is part of a "luxury car" cocktail series like the Bentley, Rolles Royce, and the Cadillac Margarita.

Peychaud's bitters float elegantly on top in this photo. I like how this drink swings between sweet and herbaceous flavors. This is a pleasing drink for before dinner or after.

• 2 oz. rye
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• several dashes of bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.