Hooray for the weekend once again. Thanks to having two kids, I have a plethora of fruit on hand at all times. Because nobody tells you when you have kids, you always have fruit on hand. Added to our pile of fruit, my father in law overbought on strawberries and passed them on to us. TL;DR: I have a metric fuckton of strawberries I need to use before they rot in the fridge. With that sself imposed mandate, I went searching for a random strawberry based cocktail and came across the Bloodhound from The Savoy. It’s got gin, two vermouths and muddled (crushed) strawberries. I’m a fan of the Savoy’s use of dual vermouth and gin cocktails, so I’m hopeful this one will be just as good.
Bloodhound
1/4 French (dry) Vermouth
1/4 Italian (sweet) Vermouth
1/2 Dry Gin
2 or 3 Crushed Strawberries
Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass
Quick notes on the measurements here. The Savoy measures ingredients as units. So this isn’t calling for a quarter ounce of each vermouth here. I used a half ounce of each to a full ounce of gin for the ratio. Also I took crushed strawberries to mean muddled, so that’s what I did in the shaker.
Immediately, I get a very succinct Strawberry smell on the nose. It’s not very strong, but it’s the most prevalent. I get zero herbal notes from the gin, or any vermouth aromas either.
Now the flavor is definitely not what I expected. The strawberry surprisingly takes the lead on the palate. Next I can pick up the dry vermouth which adds a depth to the strawberry lead.
The gin is all but covered up here. Which kinda blows me away. I wouldn’t have expected threw strawberries and a collective ounce of vermouths to blanket over a dry gin but yet here we are. The other ingredients do so well of a job that the drink almost tastes watered down in a way. To the point where I kinda want to try this again and up the gin component to see what kind of difference that would make.
It finishes with a strawberry lead flavor but the sweet vermouth shines a little more than up front. I don’t mind that actually. It’s a nice finish to this drink.
Would I have it again? I think so. It’s light, both in flavor and body so it would be a great warm weather drink. But again, as mentioned before, I’d want to add some more gin to it. I think it seems a bit muted. No bland mind you, just muted. A half ounce more of gin might be just the trick this drink needs.
(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)
I find it funny that you made all those Hemingway references to me yesterday and today you basically made a daiquiri.
I need some grapefruit to make a Hemmingway.
Just don’t go full Hemingway
The real question is how much does a Hemingway?
21 grams
– Jim Irsay, on the phone with his friend “Dr. Zhivago”
African or European?
I love to blend strawberries with milk whenever I have extra. You kinda have to strain the mixture, but it’s very tasty
It seems silly to use arbitrary “units” and then divide those into fractions. Your smallest unit should just bring everything together with a common denominator – in this case 1 unit of each vermouth and 2 units of gin.
I made strawberry basil ice cream one time and it was fabulous. I should try making a cocktail along those lines; something with gin would probably work.
It is kind of odd isn’t it? Especially from a place like The Savoy, where you’d want consistency with something you make.
Also a good addition to the dog cocktail book
do you deliver, and how soon can I get some?
We’ve concluded that making our own ice cream, while pleasant, is not time- or cost-effective. So I’ve been girding my loins to have a long conversation about getting rid of the ice cream machine, which is bulky (it’s almost as big as a banker’s box) and heavier than the bags containing Luka Doncic’s DoorDash order after last night’s game.
In terms we’ll understand, how many vacuum cleaners can be put into the space vacated by the ice cream machine?
Basically like one of the handheld Dysons (of which we have two).
I was gifted an ice cream maker. I think we’ve used it twice in like 20 years. And I agree that it does take forever to make for “not that much better or probably worse” ice cream than one can get in the store. There’s a local dairy that makes really good ice cream with things that I can’t make or do at home.
And I also need to have the convo with Mrs GTD about getting rid of stuff that has not been used in years, but taking up space. I fear that she’ll want to “save it for the kids” and that we’ll hold on to it for another decade or 2 and then toss it in the big purge to get to a smaller place.
Seriously. How do I ratio 3 crushed strawberries against a unitless 1:1:2 ratio of liquid poison?
Seems like the kind of recipe the authors put in the book like, “You want to interpret my instructions for a fruity drink? Have at it. It’ll read as, ‘1:1:2 then add strawberries to your level of personal preference (no further judgement is possible).'”
Based on a strict interpretation of the printed recipe, you’d scale the strawberry count up as well, so if your base “unit” was half an ounce, you’d have as many as six crushed strawberries against 2 oz. of liquid.
Just ridiculous.
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