Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Let’s Roll The Dice

I’m back baby! That’s right, As of today, the House Sharkbait is plague free. Much to the relief of myself and Mrs. Sharkbait. It was only a matter of time until we got it, and I’m glad it was such a minor case for all of us. Now with that unpleasantness behind us, I can get back to the regularly scheduled drinking! As fun as it was giving an overview of the bar last week, I was very much looking forward to using it again. This week I’m going back to “Churchill: A Drinking Life: once again. I’m making a pre-prohibition classic: The Casino. The book doesn’t say if he drank these on the regular, but he was an avid gambler, so they included a recipe in this book:

Casino

1 1/3 oz. gin

1/3 oz. Maraschino liqueur

1/6 oz. Orange bitters (I did 2 dashes)

1/3 oz. Lemon juice

Garnish with a maraschino cherry

Put all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass before adding the garnish.

The aroma is heavy on the maraschino. Could be the cherry garnish, but I think it mostly comes from the liqueur. I may have slightly overdone it, but I was eyeballing the third ounces in a half ounce jigger.

Initially I get a good amount of lemon flavor, but not as much citrus-y sour as you would expect from that kind of lemon flavor. The maraschino liqueur takes on the burden of cancelling out most of the lemon juice bitterness so it doesn’t become bitingly sour. Though a little bit of the sourness from the juice does manage to manifest itself in the sip, but it is quite nice actually. Along with that, the maraschino liqueur helps add a balanced sweetness to create an excellent sweet and sour flavor profile that maintains flavor intensity throughout the sip.

The gin acts as a background player in this one. I get very little of the herbal-ness gin usually brings to the party. If I concentrate hard enough, I can detect some of that signature juniper notes in the deeper parts of the sip, but even then, they are very subtle, and hard to pick out. In fact, I might suggest this to someone that says they don’t like gin. I think it could potentially change their minds.

The finish is still that sweet and sour combination, with a little bit of the lemon sourness hanging back as a slight aftertaste. The ending is where I can pick up the previously mentioned hints of gin, but those dissipate fairly quickly, leaving no trace on the after taste.

I really liked this. I’ve used gin and maraschino together in the past, but somehow I never came across the Casino. I’m glad I did, and will be making this a lot more in the very near future.

Enjoy the weekend!

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)