brown bomber

2 oz George Dickel Whisky (Wild Turkey 81 Bourbon)
3/4 oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano)
1/2 oz Suze (Salers Gentiane Liqueur)


Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

For a while now, I had been spying Jim Meehan's Brown Bomber in the PDT Cocktail Book, but we could not make the drink since Suze has not been made commercially available here. Luckily, Eric Seed of Haus Alpenz came to the rescue and got another classic French wild yellow gentian-flavored liqueur, called Salers, distributed to the state. From the taste I had at Craigie on Main when I had the Root Down with it, I noted that it was less flat, more dimensional, and better than Suze. After a quick email to Ball Square Wines in Somerville, they ordered a case of Salers that showed up the next day. Turns out that another plus is that Salers is also cheaper than Suze for Ball Square had marked their bottles $20.
The Brown Bomber recipe is basically a White Negroni with whiskey switched for the gin, and Jim Meehan named his creation after boxer Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber of Detroit. The drink began with a fresh lemon oil aroma with hints of the Cocchi Americano poking through. The sip was citrus and malt, and the swallow presented the whiskey, gentian, and a peach-almond flavor at the end.