GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST

I stirred all the ingredients in a mixing glass with hand-cracked ice and strained it into a glass over ice. This could be a hell of a drink, but it’s just a bit sweet at the moment. I kind of like it, though — the cherry flavor is the major note with only a bit of chocolate and a bit of spice. Well integrated drink, but it’s just a tad too sweet. Or perhaps it’s simply going to fill a niche as a desert drink? Future experimentation is most definitely required.

Prepare like a standard old fashioned except express the oil of a flamed lemon peel onto the old fashioned. Close to what I’d like, but not quite spicy enough.

Cherry Covered Chocolate (Take 2)

• 2 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 1 oz Rothman & Winter cherry liqueur
• 1/2 oz Marie Brizzard white creme de cacao
• 1/8 oz St. Elizabeth Allspace Dram
• 1/8 oz lemon juice
• One dash of Angostura bitters

I shook everything but the birch beer for just a quick moment just to chill it a bit but not so much as to add a lot of water to the overall volume. I poured that over ice and then poured an almost equal amount of birch beer in a tall glass with ice. The drink mixes to an oxidized but vibrant red, so the nerd in me named this blood red drink for a character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The flavor is densely wintergreen as the birch beer and Fernet mingle, and the Boylan’s lends some sweetness, but it’s still a balanced beverage.