I previously wrote about the Cabaret Cocktail, which is a sort of Martini plus a little Benedictine, and while it was enjoyable it seemed to be missing something. More recently, I’ve been experimenting with various mixtures of Benedictine and Bitters as a kind of after-dinner liqueur/digestif. These have been drinkable, though I haven’t found the optimal ratios yet. But these experiments suggested an improvement to the Cabaret, and indeed I found another Cabaret recipe that has less gin and more Benedictine. I wanted less vermouth and more bitters, so here’s what I tried:
- 1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin
- 1/2 oz Benedictine
- 1/4 oz Amaro Ramazzotti
- 1/4 oz Noilly Prat dry vermouth
- Garnish with Luxardo cherry
Shake or stir, serve up.
This drink was outstanding. As I’ve mentioned before, I like a recipe to create an entirely new synthesis flavor rather than being a variant of another, and this combination accomplished that. I may yet try it with just a little more Benedictine and bitters, but I’m not sure I’d want to go up to the next 1/4 oz unit.
Enjoy!