Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: With A Little Help From My Friends

Happy friday one and all! This week I had a special guest come over and review this week’s drink: Our very own Boris!

He’s ventured out of the state of Florida to come and visit friends and family, and we met up for beers and then he came over to try this week’s cocktail. What is it you ask? It is The Bijou from Please Don’t Tell!

Is this yet another cocktail featuring chartreuse? Yes. Yes it is. Now that I have a bottle, I’ve been going through my cocktail backlog and finding ones where the only ingredient I was missing was the chartreuse, and knocking them off the list. One of these weeks I’ll give this liqueur a rest, but this isn’t the week.

Bijou:

1 oz. Tanqueray Gin

1 oz. Dolin Sweet Vermouth

1 oz. Green Chartreuse

1 dash House Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cherry and a lemon twist

The lemon scent is the most prevalent up front. I can get a little more of the chartreuse the more I smell it. The herb-y lemon scent is a nice combination to start this drink off.

The sip initially is sweet up front, but it doesn’t last that way for long. rather quickly it turns savory and ever so slightly bitter. I’m rather surprised how much this runs the flavor spectrum. I would not have anticipated this broad of a range from this cocktail. The herbal bitterness maintains the main flavor profile the rest of the way through the sip and finishes with an overall bitter note, of which lingers on the palate for a few seconds.

I initially didn’t get much of the gin flavors. But after a few sips I started noticing it more. It isn’t very strong, so you need to look for the flavor in order to find it in there. It does a good job of melting into the flavors the chartreuse brings. Speaking of, I could be talked into backing the chartreuse down a little bit to let the gin shine through more. I think some experimentation is in order.

This is surprisingly strong as well. I wouldn’t necessarily think it would be but it definitely sneaks up on you. I think I would stop after one of these. Lest you quickly find yourself overserved.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)