Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Chasing the Green Fairy

Happy short week Friday! Just curious, did anything of significance happen yesterday that I might have missed? Nah, definitely not. This week I found an interesting twist on a daiquiri that I wanted to try. It adds a few dashes of absinthe to the sugar/lime juice rum mix. I’ve been curious about trying twists on this classic, especially a Hemingway (of which I will try at some point in the future). I’m a little apprehensive about this one though, for a couple reasons. 1) The absinthe. I have some, and very rarely use it because it can be so strong, and easily overpower anything you add to it, and the flavor isn’t exactly my favorite. 2) The sugar. Why the granulated sugar? It’s not going to end well. The sugar isn’t going to dissolve in this cold drink, so I can already tell I’m going to be somewhat disappointed by the final product. But, I’m still willing to give it a shot.

Greta Garbo

2 oz. white rum
3 dashes absinthe
.75 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 tbsp white granulated sugar

Shake all ingredients with ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a 5 1/2-ounce coupe glass.

You can definitely tell there is absinthe in this. The dashes let’s be real here, the three eye dropper drips of  absinthe really stand out and take over any kind of rum/lime daiquiri aromas you would want to find here.

Thankfully, the absinthe flavor is muted. I was very concerned with how it would shine through and it is just a background player here. Despite its restraints it is still noticeable though. It comes in immediately underneath the sweet lime and rum. It almost reminds me of a slightly bitter lime popsicle. Just like its mother cocktail, It’s cooling, refreshing, and very good. The lime and rum go well together as you would expect. But. Oh there is a but here.  what I was afraid of happened: all the sugar sank. Unless that is by design, why would you use granulated sugar here? It’s not going to dissolve over ice. No matter how much you emulsify it. The best case scenario (which is what happened here) is the sugar sinks giving the drink a smooth mouth feel, but an overly sweet finish because the sugar ratio is off. Or the other option is that the sugar hasn’t settled and you have a gritty mouth feel throughout the entire drink. You have to go with simple syrup here. That’s really the only option.

That faux pas aside, I liked this, because I like an OG daiquiri. But, I think it can be done better. On one hand, I do like the extra depth the absinthe brings, but, and this is absolutely a personal preference here, I don’t know if I like the absinthe as the ingredient to add the depth. Maybe it’s because I rarely use the absinthe I have, so I’m learning to like it, or it turns out I’m just not a fan. I think next time I’ll add some bitters to try and re-create the flavors the absinthe brings, without its strong aroma and deep licorice type flavor.

Rangers in 7.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)