Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: MOAR Olympics

Happy Olympics Friday! I know I’ve mentioned it in the comments before, but I’m a huge Olympics junkie. Not just for the sporting aspect, although that is a huge part. I do come by my Olympics obsession honestly. My father used to work for NBC sports, so when I was growing up he would have to travel multiple times to the host city. He would also be at the venue for about three months around the time of the games so that was less than ideal. However, that did work out in my favor once, as I was able to go to Sydney for a month right before the games in 2000. That was one of the best trips I’ve been on (hence the Wallabies avatar I rock here) and I’ve wanted to go back ever since. While a trip back down under is years away from even being realistically planned, I can get a little taste of it this week, as that is where the Lemon, Lime Bitters is very popular. It sounds extremely light and refreshing, and I could sure use a lighter hot weather drink right about now.

4 oz. chilled club soda
1 oz. simple syrup
.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
.5 oz. fresh lime juice
.5 tsp. Angostura bitters

Fill a rocks glass with ice and add 4 oz. chilled club soda (it should fill glass about halfway up). Add 1 oz. simple syrup, ½ oz. fresh lemon juice, and ½ oz. fresh lime juice. Float ½ tsp. Angostura bitters over and gently stir to create an ombré effect.

Visually, this looks great. the bitters float adds nice color and the gentle stir creating the cascading effect is a great eye catcher too. Surprisingly little to no aroma at play here. The 4 oz of soda water probably ate the citrus smells for dinner.

Wow the taste here is way more complex than I would have anticipated. Up front you get a heavy mix of sour/citrus fruits and the soda water. The bitters do get mostly lost in the main mix. Then again, I’m not sure how much of a chance they stood against the intense flavors of the lemon and lime juices. Though the more I sip, I can pick up the subtle, unmistakable flavor of the angostura in there. As I sip this down, I’m thinking I didn’t stir this enough. I went gently to get the bitters float, but that came at the cost of being on the sour side. a few sips in, I’m now getting the simple syrup sweetness and this changes completely, and for the better. The intense sour flavors are reduced to a much better level, and this becomes much more balanced and much more enjoyable.

That finish really is a game changer here. I wasn’t sure about the proportions and was contemplating making it again with more simple syrup but I’m glad I stuck with it. This is a refreshing drink to have on an insanely hot summer day, and because the only alcohol is a quarter teaspoon of bitters, it makes this infinitely drinkable.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)