meant to be

2 oz Gin (Bombay Dry)
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 barspoon Pastis or Absinthe (Pastis d'Autrefois)
2 leaf Mint

Lightly muddle mint, add rest of ingredients and ice, shake, and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf.

For Thursday Drink Night, the theme was "Mint." For a starting point, I used John Gertsen's Means of Preservation and substituted the celery bitters for mint. I supplemented this herbal component with a little pastis perhaps to combine it with another celery bitters-laden recipe, the Farley Mowat. The Means of Preservation was a spin of David Shenaut's Ephemeral, and in keeping with the time-based theme, I dubbed the drink Meant to Be (yes, I did consider the pun "Mint to Be" for a few moments).
The drink's nose was a healthy mint signature with a hint of pastis. Flavorwise, the mint and pastis paired up nicely with the St. Germain which donated sweetness and floral notes to the mix. The gin and dry vermouth served to counter some of the liqueur's sweetness and their botanicals augmented the Meant to Be's herbal complexity.