Episode 019

The rest is just like an Old Fashioned. You take a sugar cube and soak that in bitters and a tiny splash of water at the bottom of your mixing pint. Traditionally, Peychaud’s bitters is the brand used here, but I use Embitterment Aromatic Bitters because we actually blended this product as a nod to the creole style, so they’re perfect in the Sazerac. Then you muddle that sugar cube up, add your 2 oz of whiskey and ice, and give it a good, healthy stir.

As Carlie Steiner mentioned last episode, you want to dilute this somewhere around 20-25%, and then you strain it into your absinthe-rinsed rocks glass with a single large rock and you garnish with a lemon twist.

Here’s my personal flair. Because I don’t like how much work it takes to absinthe rinse a glass, I take my little cocktail atomizer (essentially a perfume sprayer), which I have pre-loaded with absinthe for just such occasions, and I hit the surface of the drink with several healthy spritzes of that right before I garnish with my lemon peel. That way, the aromatic components really have a chance to enchant you when you take your first few sips.

Show Notes

Here is a photo of Peter with his Alembic Still, which he uses to distill Mt. Defiance Absinthe (photo courtesy of Chilled Magazine).

Notice how the artwork on the Mt. Defiance Vermouth label is in the Art Nouveau style of Alphonse Mucha.

Check out Mt. Defiance’s new cider barn that will be open as of early October, 2017. (Image courtesy of middleburglife.com)

Favorite Cocktail

The Parisian, which is a mixure of Cassis, Vermouth, and Gin.

Favorite Spirit

Absinthe

Cocktail with Anyone, Past or Present

Paris, late 1800s at a sidewalk cafe during the early evening (also known as the “Green Hour”) drinking absinthe with art nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha.

Influential Cocktail Books

Vermouth by Adam Ford

The Book of Absinthe by Phil Baker