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)