Don’t you hate that feeling when you’re one random ingredient away from cooking/mixing something that sounds fantastic? Well, that’s my position at this current moment. I won’t reveal the recipe I’m looking at since (hopefully) I’ll be able to do it in the near future, but it is frustrating when my bar isn’t as well stocked as I thought it was. Unfortunately there really isn’t a good allspice dram substitute out there.

So, my backup this week is a simple 3 ingredient cocktail called Old Pal. According to Jim Meehan (his PDT book is where the recipe is from), this drink comes from Harry McElhone’s Barflies & Cocktails book. Where it was named by (I assume a bartender?) “Sparrow” Robinson for his “pal” Arthur Moss. Now I’m wondering how someone acquires the nickname “Sparrow”.  This drink is from 1922, so I can only imagine Sparrow did some clandestine shit during the Great War, and his codename stuck. Or, at least that’s how I’m choosing to believe the origin of that peculiar nickname… Anyway, here is the Old Pal:

2 oz. Old Overholt rye whiskey

.75 oz. Dolin dry vermouth

.75 oz. Campari

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish

Light, almost fruity nose here. The campari is the most prevalent, with hints of the whiskey underneath. I think that is where I get the slight fruit notes from. Though I can’t put my finger as to why

Whoa, this is a strong one, even by my standards. The sip starts campari forward, quickly followed by the spice whiskey flavor from the rye. Once the rye comes in, it absolutely dominates, save for the inherent bitterness from the campari.

in subsequent sips,  I can start to pinpoint the vermouth’s effect on this. It is subtle, and easily missed. However when you go looking for the flavor you can find it. It is the strongest in the middle/end of the sip, and it is noticeable in the bitter aftertaste left by this beverage. Of which, is mostly bitter campari that was not offset by the rye, and traces of the vermouth.

I’m unsure how I feel about this. On one hand, I do like my drinks strong, so this is a check in the “pro” column. However, this is very, very strong and almost overly bitter. I found myself spacing sips out more and more to let the aftertaste die down a bit. I found that taking sips too close together results in the bitter aftertaste compounding on itself and it quickly gets overpowering. I don’t hate this, but I don’t think this will be one of my go to-s when making a whiskey and campari beverage. The Boulevardier still reigns supreme in that department. Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

(Banner image found here)