Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Libation Experimentation

Happy first Friday of the off season. I trust you all enjoyed The Big Game™? I decided to do some more  experimenting at the bar. When looking at my shelf of oils and vinegars when preparing dinner earlier this evening, I spied a small bottle of serrano honey. I immediately started thinking of how I can incorporate that into a drink. I remembered I had a bottle of elderflower liqueur that has rarely been used. I tried a bit of the vinegar with the liqueur and they played very nicely together! Thinking I had something here, I started thinking base spirit, and my mind immediately went to gin.

Experiment #1

2 oz. gin
.5 oz Elderflower liqueur
6 drops serrano honey balsamic vinegar

Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Theres…something here. The gin does overpower everything else though. The elderflower cuts some of the gin’s potency. The vinegar is barely noticeable in the taste, least of all the serrano. Although you can detect a hint of the balsamic smell when you sniff the glass. I ended up adding a few more drops into the glass and stirring since the vinegar sank to the bottom. I will say it improved the flavor a little bit. Not the worst, but I think I can do better.

Experiment #2:

2 oz. gin
.75 oz. Elderflower
.25 oz Serrano balsamic vinegar

Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

So the color is noticeably darker, thanks to the addition of more vinegar. The sweet notes of the elderflower are more pronounced, but the gin still powers through all the way through the sip. However, there is one odd observation of note here. The drink seems to change flavors the more you sip it down. My theory is that the vinegar is denser than the water, so as the drink sits, the vinegar slowly sinks to the bottom, changing the entire flavor profile. Feeling the gin may be a bit too overpowering, I’ve got one more experiment up my sleeve.

Experiment #3

2 oz. Vodka
.75 oz. Elderflower liqueur
.25 oz Serrano balsamic vinegar

Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Third time is the charm. The substitution of vodka as the base spirit made a world of difference here. The milder base spirit lets the vinegar and the elderflower really shine. The vinegar brings sour, tangy undertones which counters the elderflower’s inherent sweetness, creating a well balanced, off the board cocktail.

So there you have it, a Sharkbait original, created through trial and error. Now, what should I call this creation?

(Banner image found here)