Monday, December 19, 2011

bell-ringer sour

2 tsp Pineapple Syrup
1 tsp Simple Syrup
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1 wineglass Hermitage Whiskey (2 oz Bulleit Bourbon)

Stir with ice and strain into a Sour glass pre-rinsed with apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter). Add a dash of seltzer (omitted) and float a little claret on top (1/2 oz Bear Flag Red).

After the Rocket, I decided to go even older with a drink I spotted in James Maloney's 1900 book, The Twentieth-Century Cocktail Guide for Mixing Fancy Drinks. The Bell-Ringer Sour had Maloney's trademarked apricot liqueur rinse that I last utilized in his Manhattan Bell-Ringer; I was also drawn to the Bell-Ringer Sour for I was excited to use my new batch of pineapple gomme syrup again. Moreover, on top of this drink was a float of red wine that worked so well in the New York Sour.
The Bell-Ringer Sour's red wine float provided the initial aroma. Indeed, the red wine dominated the sip for the first part of the drink, and the swallow showcased whiskey and sour notes. After the wine layer had been drained, the fruity sip offered up lemon and pineapple flavors, and the swallow was full of Bourbon notes with an apricot finish.

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