Wednesday, September 16, 2009

pink lady

1 1/2 oz Gin (Beefeater 24)
1/2 oz Applejack (Laird's Bonded)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine (Homemade)
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice; strain into a cocktail glass.

After the Goody-Goody, I decided to shorten my Anvil-to-do list by one via the Pink Lady. For a recipe source, I went with the Boston LUPEC's Little Black Book of Cocktails, and history seems to point to the drink being created and named after the 1911 musical comedy of the same name. While the drink bears some resemblance to the Clover Club, ours did not turn out as pink (or as sweet) as that concoction.
When we had the Pink Lady, the apple notes came first followed by the lemon-pomegranate flavors. Our use of Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy probably assisted in this since it is not diluted with grain neutral alcohol like Laird's Applejack is (which is only 35% apple product); in our opinion, it is worth the extra few dollars for the bonded (plus you get an extra 20 proof!) if you can find it or for a lower end Calvados (such as Morin Selection at around $22) especially since applejack is no longer as cheap as it was a year or two ago. The Pink Lady contained some gin notes at the end of the swallow and had the right amount of sweetness; the intensities of both of these flavors were smoothed over by the presence of the egg white. I think Andrea's description of "quite delightful!" after the first sip summed it up rather well.

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