Keep It Rolling
Nothing major, just a good drink
The past few weeks have been…a little scrambly. But we made it people, we are on the other side of the election and it appears the country has not fallen apart (yet). It appears Twitter hasn’t fallen apart (yet). And so that means this newsletter can’t possibly fall apart yet either (right?).
So I’m sorry, I don’t really have clever stories or anything, just a little fun with a stirred drink that I made a bit back and I’ll go into
I opened a bottle of Cocchi Torino a bit ago and you can’t just leave vermouth sitting around forever (please for the love of god refrigerate your vermouth at home). It loses some of that punch. So I have found myself doing lots of fun “what should I make with this bottle of Cocchi?” experiments when I’ve been sitting around.
The exact origin of this is unclear (did I make it with a friend over? Was I just messing around) which should tell you something about how my brain has been operating recently, but I was trying to think of fun, spirit-forward stuff to compliment the Cocchi. Now you are not making a Martini with this (sweet, not dry), and you can and always should make a Negroni with it (Botanivore, Cocchi, and Campari, done) but in the vein of that, what are some other fun spirits to play with that I don’t use that much?
I decided to eschew fruit and go with curaçao. Why not boozy citrus? As for other things that just don’t get enough love in my kitchen, what about a touch of spice? I still haven’t found the perfect thing for the St. George Green Chile Vodka. And while we are on a spirit with kick, how about a lil mezcal? Everything else has returned so I have not had time to go deep on mezcal as a spirit, so all I have around is a nice simple bottle of Del Maguey Vida but when are you just looking for a straightforward mezcal to mix with, this will take care of you.
So you got all that? What else do you need? You always need bitters. Now this is a stirred drink, and up. Because that’s what I’ve been on a kick with lately. Straying from the tropical roots, but still making nice drinks, you know…for the people.
Take all those ingredients, and dump them into your mixing glass. Add some ice and give it a nice long stir (20-30 seconds). Strain into a coupe or a Nick and Nora glass like I did. Express an orange peel over it and discard.
There you go, you got yourself an Oro En Paz, because let’s keep that San Francisco drink naming theme going for a bit. It’s got a nice little bit, but not much. Just enough.
Until we do this again!
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something every couple of weeks (a low volume Substack, I swear!), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
And, as with any good drink, feel free to share (responsibly, of course)
Nice drink Jane! will try it at chez Vesuvio for fall