Wednesday, September 18, 2013

life vest

1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1 oz Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Two Saturdays ago, I picked up our copy of Food & Wine: Cocktails 2013 and spotted the Life Vest created by Sean Hoard. Sean came up with the drink one night at the Teardrop Lounge in Portland, OR, for a friend who was meeting a girl at the bar. His friend wanted a lower proof libation so that he did not sink his chances with her, and Sean whipped up something inspired by the Culross.
The apricot and lemon juice aromas combined to produce an almost orange-like note. Grape and lemon paired on the sip and led into an apricot swallow that was modified by the sweet vermouth.

4 comments:

Sahil said...

Curious to try this with a dry vermouth or sherry.

Unknown said...

i went to the shop to pick up some Cocchi Americano. I have yet to use it. I noticed red and white versions, but you never specify in your concoctions. I'm assuming you only use white, since I also see very few cocktails calling for a red Lillet.

Elyn said...

We have a copy of one of those Food and Wine cocktail anthologies and almost never pick it up. Thanks for the reminder. This drink looks awesome!

frederic said...

Sahil, definitely sherry. A lot of things from Tiki to classics work well with a sherry switch for the base spirit (or here lack of spirit).

Kesar, the Cocchi Americano Rosa is new (and is different from the Cocchi Vermouth di Torino that I just call Cocchi Sweet Vermouth here) and I would specify. As for Lillet Rouge and Dubonnet Blanc, these are the ones formed as competition for the other and are inferior to Dubonnet Rouge and Lillet Blanc, respectively. I generally assume that Dubonnet is red and Lillet is white unless told otherwise.

Elyn, yes, most of the series is really good. I think it was 2006 when the books don't seem as worth it (retrospectively). You can find the old copies for cheap online.