coolidge

2 oz Sazerac 6 Year Rye
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/4 - 1/3 oz Clear Creek Eau De Vie Of Douglas Fir

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Twist a lemon peel over the top and discard.

We continued celebrating Andrea's birthday on Friday by going over to Lineage where head bartender Ryan Lotz was presiding. The drink that called out to me for my first round was Ryan's tribute to his restaurant's Coolidge Corner neighborhood which he based off of the Red Hook. Instead of the Red Hook's Maraschino liqueur, the Coolidge utilized an eau de vie of springtime-harvested Douglas Fir buds. Ryan found that this spirit paired well with spicy rye and he retained the Punt e Mes from the Red Hook recipe to round out the drink.
The Coolidge started with a lemon oil nose that led into a sweet, caramel, and malty sip. The sip was dried out by a bitter and spicy swallow that was full of pine tree notes. While Ryan might have been attracted to the eau de vie's pairing with the rye, I felt that its complementary flavors to the bitter notes in the Punt e Mes vermouth was what made the drink for me.