Happy Black Friday! I trust your Thanksgivings (or for our Canadian neighbo(u)rs Thursday) were happy and safely celebrated. We did a low key dinner with just the three of us, interspersed with multiple video calls so we can see family. Such is the normal for 2020. As much as it sucks to have virtual celebrations, it is absolutely necessary. We just keep telling ourselves that this too shall pass (eventually).

Anyway, on to the drink this week. Its called The First Class, and it comes out of the Waldorf Astoria Bar Book by Frank Caiafa. I’ve had this one penciled in this slot for one reason: It calls for fresh sage. What better time to have sage on hand than after Thanksgiving dinner! I made sure to keep some separate from the stuffing to make sure I had enough. The pepper garnish also intrigues me a lot. I never thought about using pepper as a garnish in a drink. Salt makes sense but pepper? Let’s see how that works.

The First Class:

.5 oz. Fresh lime juice

4 Fresh sage leaves

1 Lime wedge

2.5 oz. Gin (recipe calls for  G-Vine Floraison gin, I used London Dry)

.75 oz. Maraschino liqueur

Add lime juice, sage, and lime wedge to a mixing glass & muddle. Add ice and remaining ingredients and shake. Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with one turn of freshly ground black pepper.

The nose is very light and citrus-y, with a hint of fruit mixed in there too. The maraschino is the most likely source of the fruit tones. 

The sip is very dry and crisp with lime flavors. After a few seconds, you get a little peppery zing that carries from the middle of the sip, all the way to the end. That answers the question of how well fresh pepper does as a garnish.  

I also get a some tartness that kind of grabs you in the back of the throat. The liqueur and the fresh lime are the most likely sources of that flavor.  

As to the sage, it does add a nice depth of flavor. It is very subtle, but you can tell its there. I don’t hate that, mainly because sage can quickly overpower other flavors its combined with. So the background flavor is a welcome one.

The gin is a very nice base spirit. The natural notes play very well with the rest of the ingredients. Vodka could work, but you’d be missing out on the other flavors the gin brings to the table. Though the Florasion gin (since it’s made with grapes) would probably be better than London Dry. 

This is good, a pre dinner drink for sure. Trust me. I had this one after dinner and while I didn’t regret my decision, it definitely seemed out of place in the order of the evening. So go ahead, and use that leftover sage and make this one before you dive into turkey day leftovers. 

(Banner image found here)