the detroiter

3/4 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy
3/4 oz Cynar
3/4 oz Honey Syrup (1:1)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Stone IPA Beer (Southern Tier 2x IPA)

Dry shake to de-gas the beer. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass containing another 1 oz of IPA. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

A few Saturdays ago, I decided to make a recipe from 320 Main that I had spotted on the web (most likely from something Rumdood posted on Facebook or Twitter) called the Detroiter. The recipe is Jason Schiffer's follow up to the Michigander that I enjoyed a little over a year ago. To that set of ingredients, he added pine notes and carbonation via an IPA beer. I later found the recipe again on 320 Main's blog which provided additional information about the recipe's genesis; Jason tinkered with the Michigander recipe to further his thoughts about his home state, autumn leaves, and warm fireplaces.
The grapefruit twist joined the sweet floral notes of the honey. A carbonated apple, lemon, and honey sip gave way to the Cynar-grapefruity hops combination on the swallow and a honey finish. Indeed, even though I used a different IPA, the grapefruit twist and the beer's hops made for fine bookends on the drink.