byculla cocktail

1/2 oz Sherry (Lustau Don Nuño Dry Oloroso)
1/2 oz Port (Ramos Pinto Ruby)
1/2 oz Curaçao (Curaçao of Curaçao)
1/2 oz Ginger Brandy (Domaine de Canton)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added an orange twist to the recipe.
On Sunday night after dinner but before going to Eastern Standard's anti-Valentine's Day event, Andrea and I had a drink to pass the time. I found the Byculla in Trader Vic's 1947 Bartender's Guide and decided to give it a go. Savoy's 1930 and Boothby's 1934 both had the recipe with the former being a liqueur glass (1 oz) and the latter 1/4 jigger measures for each ingredient. I opted for adding an orange twist for orange oils always seem to complement sherry rather well; moreover, it ended up bringing out a fresh juice flavor sensation from the Curaçao. In the drink, the sherry notes appeared early in the sip, orange liqueur in the middle, and ginger at the swallow. In addition, a pleasant port-like grape flavor lingered on in the aftertaste. The Byculla Cocktail was not as gingery as I imagined it would be; perhaps the fortified wines smoothed over the its sharpness for it appeared more as a light accent. The addition of a dash of Angostura bitters to the Byculla might help to bring out a more robust and complex ginger taste, and I could easily see orange bitters adding to the citrus complexity. The drink would be a good cocktail to have with dessert and Andrea imagined it working extravagantly well with a flourless chocolate cake.