schiphol

3/4 oz Bols Barrel Aged Genever
3/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
3/4 oz Aperol
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Mondays ago, Andrea and I had dinner at Estragon. While chatting with bartender Sahil Mehta, he mentioned that we had just missed him at Hawthorne the night before. There, he had the Paper (Air)Plane, a drink created a few years ago by Manhattan mixologist Sam Ross that was adopted as one of the first drinks on the Hawthorne menu. Sahil said that he was so taken by the drink that he came up with his own variation using barrel-aged Genever and Amaro Montenegro instead of Bourbon and Amaro Nonino, respectively. Given the aeronautical and Dutch themes, he dubbed this one the Schiphol after the airport in Amsterdam (which is where I was able to buy Bols Corenwyn during a layover on a business trip last autumn).
The Schiphol greeted my nose with an Aperol, lemon, and dark amaro aroma that coupled to make an almost grapefruit aroma like they did in the Paper Plane. The sip contained the fruit notes of the lemon and Aperol, and the swallow presented a malty and caramel flavor from the Genever and Amaro Montenegro. The swallow also contained a citrus pith-like note that I attributed as an interaction of the lemon with the Genever; moreover, as the drink warmed up, the Schiphol finished with herbal notes from the amaro and Genever on the aftertaste.