I was in the mood for something I hadn’t heard of before. Not new, just new to me. B was also thinking some thing with Dubonnet Rouge. According to the good Doctor’s Vintage Cocktails and Forgotten Spirits (now in a new edition that lays flat on the counter), versions of this cocktial have been around since the nineteenth century with his version being a later edition. The Blackthorn is named after the plum-bearing shrub that produces the sloe berry (from which we get sloe gin). This version, interestingly, has no sloe gin. Haigh claims that the the cocktail has a “plummy flavor” if your taste buds are imaginative–personally, I thought it might take more one to get to that level of imagination, but I take his point.
The Blackthorn Cocktail
- 2 oz. gin
- 3/4 Oz Dubonette Rouge
- 3/4 oz kirschwasser
Stir on ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon and a cherry.
At first this seemed a bit thin and a little sweet, but a couple of sips in it started to grown on me. It’s a little sneaky that way. I can see that you could get in trouble if you don’t keep an eye on this one.
As an aside, Dubonette Rouge is a fortified wine that’s billed as an apartif. Apparently it’s been around since 1846 and is a mix of fortified wine with mushed up herbs and quinine, so next time you need to colonize a malarial-endemic part of the world, this is the stuff. The companies website seemed to be full of lore about the French foreign legion and what not.
Cin-Cin
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