waterloo sunset

2 oz Tanqueray Gin
1 oz Martini & Rossi Rosé Vermouth
1 oz Pedro Ximénez Sherry
1 dash Bittermens Burlesque Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass rinsed with Lillet Blanc. Garnish with an orange twist.

Two Mondays ago, we made our way down to the South End to have drinks at Toro. For a first beverage, I asked bartender Andy McNees for the Waterloo Sunset. Andy explained that he had always wanted to name a drink after that Kinks' song. For ingredients, he described how the gin represented the English and the Lillet represented the French in the battle; as for the sherry, his answer was that Toro was a Spanish restaurant after all.
The orange twist's oils welcomed the nose and prepared the mouth for the grapefruit-citrus sip that also contained robust grape notes from the sherry. Most of the sherry flavors though were in the swallow along with the gin's juniper and the bitters' spice and light pepper heat. Stylistically, the Waterloo Sunset reminded me of the Buckminster at Highland Kitchen.