Happy cocktail Friday! I’m excited to bring a new spirit to the arsenal of booze I keep in the bar. But first a little bit of back story. I wanted to make a tropical drink this week (a mai tai specifically) but was lacking orgeat syrup. When discussing how to make or purchase with my bartender friend, I was informed that it was a massive pain in the ass to home make, and bottled orgeat isn’t as good as homemade. He suggested I make a Pisco based cocktail, and sent me a recipe that he likes making. Unfortunately, this recipe involves ruby red grapefruit and there has apparently been a run on both the fruit and the juice in my area for some unknown reason. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Wanting to still  do something with this bottle of Pisco I literally just purchased, I went to my library of books to see what I could find. Sure enough I found something in the PDT book: The Judgement Day. It seemed fairly straightforward so I went with it.

1.5 oz. Pisco

.5 oz. Elderflower

.5 oz. Lime

.5 oz. Lemon

.5 oz. Simple syrup

Egg white

Dry shake then shake with ice and strain into a chilled, Pernod Absinthe-rinsed egg coupe. Garnish with 2 spritzes of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram.

The allspice takes charge of the aroma right out of the gate. The cinnamon and clove are really noticeable and is a very pleasant aroma.

The first sip is a great mix of the lemon and lime flavors. The citrus, while strong isn’t biting at first. The simple syrup and the elderflower add just enough sweetness to counter the sour citrus, all the while letting their actual flavors shine through early. About midway through the sip the minimal sweetness dials back, and the natural sour flavors really start to shine through and carry the flavor profile the rest of the sip. The absinthe rinse of the glass adds a touch of sour/bitter finish as well. It’s subtle, but I think the rinse adds a little touch to really solidify the flavors. For a drink shaken with an egg white, it is relatively light, and doesn’t leave an after sip palate coating.

I wasn’t able to really detect any kind of flavor from the Pisco. Though to be fair, I’ve never used Pisco, I was really interested to see how this works in a drink.. So I took a sip of it neat to see what I could find out about this spirit. Turns out Pisco is fairly neutral, with a little bit of grape and other fruit flavors. I can see why this would play really well with the flavors at work in this. Overall, I liked this. It takes a little bit of work to make, with the juicing of the citrus, and the addition of the egg, but it is a nice change of pace from other drinks I’ve made. I’m looking forward to experimenting more with Pisco in the future.

(Banner image found here)