Monday, September 17, 2018

saturn + negroni

(A) 1 1/2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/4 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Falernum (Velvet)
(B) Equal parts: (I used 3/4 oz per part which seemed like too much in retrospect; I recommend 1/4-1/3 oz per ingredient)
• Smith & Cross Rum
• Campari
• Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)

Whip shake the ingredients in (A), pour into a tall glass, and fill almost to the top with crushed ice. Stir ingredients in (B) and strain while floating it over the first part of the drink. Top with crushed ice and garnish with an orange slice.

On Reddit's cocktail forum, an user posted about a drink called the Saturn + Negroni that he had at Chicago's Three Dots & A Dash. I was curious if it was related to my Negroni Week 2017 offering of the Negroni on Saturn. When I consulted the Three Dots & A Dash website to look at their menu, it was their Negroni Week 2018 offering crafted by bartender Cory Starr. Instead of two gin drinks mashed into one, it was a Kingston Negroni (Smith & Cross-based triad akin to the Kingston Contessa) floated atop a Saturn (verified by photos of the drink). My curiousity was piqued, so I came up with the above recipe. My Kingston Negroni did float on top of the Saturn but the volume of the Negroni as well as the Snifter glassware I selected were not optimal for displaying this in the photo; I recommend toning the float down to around three quarters or a full ounce pre-melt instead of the two and a quarter ounce version I went with first. Alternatively, make a full-sized Kingston Negroni, float a portion, and save the rest as a sidecar.
The Saturn + Negroni as I made it began with an orange aroma with hints of rum funk. Next, lemon and passion fruit on the sip led into gin, nutty, and clove flavors on the swallow. Once the Rum Negroni aspect took over the Saturn component, the sip became more grape and orange noted, and the swallow offered high ester rum and bitter orange flavors.

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