Monday, September 6, 2010

cell #34

1 oz Beefeater Gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz St. Germain
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with lemon oil.
Two Sundays ago, Ben Sandrof was hosting another of his speakeasy Sunday Salons at a local establishment's back room and we stopped by for a few rounds. The drink I started with was the Cell #34 off of the cocktail menu. In a way, the Cell #34 was a Negroni with the sweet vermouth swapped out for some St. Germain, but the St. Germain did a better job of taming the Campari than any vermouth (save for perhaps a Barolo Chinato) could do; moreover, the Campari did a good job in minimizing the sweetness of the St. Germain. The drink started with a lemon oil and Campari aroma that led into the citrus-like St. Germain elderflower liqueur flavor. The bitter flavors of Campari followed the St. Germain in the sip, and the St. Germain, perhaps coupled with the gin's botanicals, appeared again as a lingering grapefruit-like flavor.

3 comments:

KeithP said...

This is nice, an interesting twist on the original. Great use of the elderflower, works with the campari very well and really brought out the botanical qualities of the gin i used.

Colin said...

Great variation on the Negroni! I love St. Germain, but a lot of times it's too sweet. The Campari really mellows out the cloyness of St. Germain

adambrod said...

We made these tonight and they were delicious. My wife decided to add a 1/2 oz of lemon juice and that worked really well.