Ricard Satin

I really enjoyed this cocktail for it's relative dryness and silky texture due to egg white and a splash of cream. Despite those heavy ingredients, it wasn't exactly a dessert drink. You could easily start your evening with it; I imagine the setting: a cafe table along the Seine. This drink is so traditional cafe drinking, you'll think you are in Paris.

Ricard has some sugar in it to help create the egg white foam, but you'll need to add a little more. Ricard is pretty dry for all that flavor, so it helps to add a bit. I recommend a teaspoon of simple syrup.

• 1 1/2 oz. Ricard
• 1 oz. gin (MurLarkey used)
• 1/2 egg white or thereabouts
• 1/2 oz. cream
• sugar syrup to taste (1 tsp. recommended) 

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain to remove ice. Dry shake without ice to add foam and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Step-Father (Original Recipe)

The Godfather family of cocktails has a new member--the Step-Father. Amaretto and Ricard pastis taste great together, so I don't know why this hasn't been tried before. I was inspired by the French Connection in this cross-nationalities cocktail that is just as simple to make and easy to order, if you are at a French restaurant that carries Ricard or some other pastis.

• 1 1/2 oz. Ricard
• 1 oz. amaretto

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

Ric-O-Chet

Alright, champagne cocktail drinkers--here is another beauty! The Ric-O-Chet is a lot like a Death In The Afternoon, in that it is a sparkling cocktail with a ton of herbal flavored and grape-based spirits in it. It's almost a drink designed to display the color of the spirits and present an interesting form of glassware for consuming something that pretty much tastes like absinthe. It will also kick your butt and make you quite tired if you make it part of your day drinking routine.

The recipe calls for cognac, and there is almost no reason to use a high quality spirit. But since I didn't have any cheap cognac, I opted for my pricey armagnac by Larressingle. I'd like to say that this was a good move, but a lot of the subtlety of armagnac is lost behind the anise and licorice of Ricard. If anything, the cognac is there to spread that flavor around and make the Ricard a little more rich.

One key to this drink (and any restaurant bartender who tries this by reducing the liquor content by half in order to be sold legally in most states) is to build the drink with the cognac and Ricard in the glass first and add ice to chill it. This allows the herbs in the Ricard to express out and create a cloudy caramel visual effect. Remove the ice with a spoon and top with the champagne and stir.

• 1 oz. cognac (Larressingle armagnac used)
• 1 1/2 oz. Ricard
• sparkling wine or champagne

Add Ricard and cognac to a chilled champagne flute and stir to chill. Remove the ice with a spoon and top with sparkling wine or champagne and stir gently.