zaza d'la whore

1 oz Dry Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Dubonnet Rouge
1/2 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan)
1/2 oz Pimm's No. 1

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.
After making the Salome from the Savoy Cocktail Book, I began thinking about the Zaza Cocktail, and the name Zaza d'la Whore popped into my head. That Zaza was not the Queen's favorite drink (equal parts gin and Dubonnet) nor named after a French play, but a character that we met in the neighborhood bar next to our bed and breakfast in the Marigny for Tales of the Cocktail 2010. Zaza d'la Whore loved being the center of attention, and she seemed worthy of a cocktail tribute. When I read a review of the new Dubonnet Rouge, I noted the currant and tea botanicals that were added to remake the American Dubonnet, and I thought that Crème Yvette and Swedish punsch would complement those two ingredients, respectively. However, that combination was too sweet with a 1/4 oz of Yvette (the gin was upped to 1 1/4 oz) and nothing to balance the sugar. Therefore, I swapped in Pimm's No. 1 to work with the Swedish punsch with the 1934 Pimmeron recipe in mind. Pimm's lacked the over the top berry and vanilla notes, but turned out to be a decent fill in with the gin and Dubonnet.
Above is a photo of the fabulous Zaza d'la Whore on our last night in New Orleans that year (the identity of the person on the right was swapped with Stan Jones visage for privacy's sake), so to her, we raise this glass! The Zaza d'la Whore cocktail flirted with orange and strawberry aromas. Next, grape and strawberry on the sip transitioned to gin, cherry, and tea flavors on the swallow. Overall, not a great departure from the Zaza, but here certain fruit and tea elements were accentuated.