Tuesday, November 15, 2011

the trenton

1 3/4 oz Laird's Applejack
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Cardamaro
1/4 Cinzano Sweet Vermouth
2 dash Herbsaint
2 dash Housemade Aromatic Bitters
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Twist an orange peel over the top and discard.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I went over to Deep Ellum for drinks. The first cocktail I had was the Trenton that recently appeared on their menu. After having the combination of apple brandy and Cynar with the Michigander, I was ordering a drink made with applejack and Cardamaro. Instead of Cynar's artichokes, this Italian liqueur is made with cardoon, which is a relative of artichokes, along with blessed thistle and other botanicals. I wrote about Cardamaro in a post about Russell House Tavern's Sacrilege, a drink which had a similar structure to the Michigander with its lemon juice and honey syrup. To bolster this liqueur and the applejack, the Trenton included a variety of other spiced and herbal elements including cinnamon syrup and Herbsaint.
The Trenton that bartender Jennifer Salucci made for me presented an herbal aroma from the Cardamaro, a grape one from the sweet vermouth (or perhaps the Cardamaro's wine base), and orange oils from the twist. As the drink warmed up, the Herbsaint's anise scent soon entered into the equation. While the sip was mostly from the applejack, the swallow was rather complex with Cardamaro and cinnamon flavors at the beginning and anise notes from the Herbsaint and Pechaud's Bitters at the end.

2 comments:

Paul said...

Hi Frederic ! I am debating whether I should buy a bottle of Cardamaro or not. I get the feeling that it is pretty similar to Cynar as they both have Cardoon ( artichoke ) in their name and probably as their main ingredient. Would you say they are similar or are they very distinct from each other?
Sincerely
Paul Olsson

frederic said...

They are very distinct. Cardamaro is made with a wine base and has blessed thistle (cardoon), and Cynar has the typical caramel-spiritous base along with the classic cooking artichoke. Different flavors, different feels, different herbal ingredients (cardoon is not an artichoke, just related).

I've had Cynar at home for over a decade. I have yet to get a bottle of Cardamaro yet but have had it at bars I've worked at. Probably with recipes on this blog and elsewhere, you should have no problem finishing a bottle though.