Happy NHL Trade deadline Friday! I’ll be glued to TSN all day today, hoping the Ice Giants sell like Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy at the end of Trading Places. Anyway, I don’t know about all of you but lately I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted. I wonder why that could be?

Given…that, the need for a tasty beverage at the end of the day is very, very real. However, going full bore booze isn’t exactly sustainable in the long run. Thankfully there are a plethora of lower ABV cocktails out there, and this week is no different. I found a vermouth based cocktail called the New Orleans in the Waldorf Astoria cocktail book. With Mardi Gras happening earlier in the week, I thought it would be a good tie in for the week as well.

New Orleans

2.5 oz. Carpano Antica sweet vermouth (chilled) – I used Dolin

1 dash Regan’s Orange bitters

1 dash Angostura bitters

2 oz. Chilled club soda

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir for 10 seconds to integrate. Strain into champagne coupe. Top with chilled club soda. Garnish with an orange peel or a lemon peel. 

This is essentially a Vermouth spritz with bitters added in. I really like the vermouth spritz so I’ll bet I’m gonna like this too. There are strong notes of lemon off the top. There are some subtle reminders that Angostura bitters are in there. I think I also get some of the orange aromas as well. The more I go looking for hints of orange bitter smell, I think I can pick it out underneath the lemon, giving an overall citric forward profile, with a hint of depth from the bitters and the vermouth.

This is excellent. It’s light, refreshing, and making me with the weather was about 30 more degrees warmer than it is now. It’s a bit more heavy on the vermouth than the spritz is, but that makes sense considering the vermouth spritz is 2 to 1 club soda to vermouth, as opposed to this more even application of both ingredients. Even though the vermouth only out measures the club soda by a half an ounce, it’s flavor is at the forefront, and stays at the forefront of the flavor profile. However, as dominant as the vermouth is, both the angostura and the orange bitters are able to be picked up here. They add a nice depth to the vermouth and cut the sweetness down to a more manageable level. The club soda helps in that regard as well. Other than watering down the base, the carbonation it adds is an excellent touch, as we’ve seen from the spritz from before.

This was excellent, as I anticipated it to be. I do like the lower ABV this brings to the table, so you can enjoy more of them in a sitting.  I’ll definitely be adding this one into the summer repertoire. Despite praising the lower ABV just now, I am kind of curious to see how it goes with a little bit of a gin topper. The vermouth spritz recipe suggests adding some for an added kick, and that’s what I usually do. I’ll bet it will do nicely, but that seems like an experiment for another day. For now, I’ll just enjoy this easy drinker.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)