Tuesday, July 31, 2012

copper canyon

1 1/2 oz El Tesoro Reposado Tequila
1/2 oz Marie Brizard Crème de Cacao
1/2 oz Salers Gentiane Liqueur
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 barspoon Long Pepper Tincture (*)

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing a big ice cube. Garnish the ice cube with a pinch of salt.
(*) Will said that any hot tincture or perhaps a dash of hot sauce would work well here.

The other cocktail bartender Will Thompson made for me at Drink was a 20th Century variation he had come up with using Salers Gentiane Liqueur. Since the recipe lacked a name, I recommended calling it the Copper Canyon after another famous train line, one that runs from Los Mochis to Chihuahua City in Mexico. Will agreed that paying respect to the train aspect worked better for him than tinkering around with which century to name it after.
The Copper Canyon offered a tequila and gentian aroma along with a chocolate note. The lemon sip led into a tequila and cacao-gentian swallow with a lingering spice-heat element. Overall, I was impressed the most with how well the Salers' gentian played off of the crème de cacao here.

3 comments:

SPS said...

Sounds righteous. I picked up a bottle of Salers a few weeks back. Have mostly been drinking it with a squeeze of lemon, some hearty dashes of absinthe, and 1-2 ounces of gin. It also plays really well with Apry I've found. This sounds far more dynamic though. Will have to give it a try. Also, I noticed Suze on the shelf of a local liquor store recently. An embarrassment of gentian liqueurs these days! Love it.

frederic said...

We've been waiting for Suze to show up -- its arrival has been promised many times by high up cocktail dignitaries; it's in New York as of a few months ago but not many other places. Luckily Eric Seed came through with Salers which I think is better, more rounded, and cheaper than Suze.

Hopefully, there'll be more Salers/Suze recipes published soon, although it's great with soda water.

SPS said...

A recipe of my own devising: Je ne Negroni Pas (a placeholder name) - 1 oz gin; 1 oz salers; 1 oz fino sherry; .25 oz lime juice; .25 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao; 1 dash grapefruit bitters (Bitterman's). Stirred, strained over rocks.

Give er a try. Fairly quaffable.