pearl de vere

1 oz Reposado Tequila
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

The second drink I worked on for the Women of the Wild West-themed Whiskey & Amari night at the Blue Room was the Pearl de Vere. I decided to use the Scofflaw as a formula and tequila as the spirit. While I tried a variety of amari including Nardini and Ramazzotti, it seemed that Benedictine worked well. I was reassured that there was no rule that the drinks needed to contain either whiskey or Italian bitter liqueurs, so a French liqueur found its way in. I did not do a write up on Pearl de Vere for the Facebook event page since the only photos I could find of Pearl were of her tombstone and her brothel. Pearl found her way to Cripple Creek, Colorado, during the gold rush there. Since men greatly outnumbered the women in town, she took up the profession and soon had opened up her own brothel. Pearl's brothel catered to the more prosperous men, and her ladies wore fine clothing to match their beauty and received good pay and medical exams. At one gala event at her second brothel, she overdid the morphine she occasionally used to sleep and sadly never awoke. Her lavish funeral procession played such tunes as "There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" in tribute.
The orange oils from the twist complemented the aged tequila aroma. The lime and citrus-wine complemented the light caramel notes in the sip, and the tequila mingled with the herbal Benedictine and Angostura spice on the swallow.