Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Going Barefoot

Hello one and all. Once again we made it to yet another Friday. I should have taken today off since I was off all yesterday for Veterans/Armistice day. Going back into work for one day before the weekend makes little sense to me, but that is my mistake.

Anyway.

This week I’m making a drink I mixed up at a friend’s house last weekend. I’ve been sending this post around to my friends for a while so now I’m the go to cocktail guy. Of which, when I started this little project in 2019, I had no idea that it would be such a fun project and turn into a pretty epic pandemic hobby. Last Sunday Mrs. Sharkbait and I were over at a friend’s place watching football and was asked to make something tasty from their well stocked liquor cabinet. I was very excited to see a gin I’ve been trying to find for years. Tanqueray Sevilla Orange gin is finally available domestically. I had some once when the same couple brought back a bottle from a vacation in Europe, and I’ve been hoping it would make it’s way here and it finally has. Using that gin for a base was absolutely required. Not having my library of cocktail books on me, I did some searching on a cocktail app I have, and came across a recipe for a Contessa (Yes, the title is a Food Network joke). I gambled on the flavors working well and I am happy to report that it did, and the orange contessa was a hit.

Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a bottle of the orange gin, so for this week’s cocktail I’m using London Dry as the recipe normally calls for:

1 oz. Aperol
1 oz. dry vermouth
1 oz. gin
Lemon twist, for garnish

Combine Aperol, vermouth, and gin in an ice-filled shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass. Squeeze lemon twist over cocktail and then discard.

The nose is mostly gin forward with hints of the Aperol mixed in as well. I Also get some lemon aroma in there from the twist I didn’t discard. I don’t know why you would discard the twist, but whatever, to each their own. The Aperol flavor comes through first and foremost. Aperol is a nice touch here. It provides just enough of bittersweet notes to keep the drink very well balanced. The gin is a secondary player here. It hides underneath from the beginning but doesn’t really make it’s presence known much more than that. In this application I think that is a very good thing. it is very light and can easily get thrown off balance by stronger flavors. The dry vermouth is lost of the way through the sip. I can get faint traces of it here and there, but nothing consistent. I think it mostly acts as a counter to the Aperol bitterness and is a hidden balancer.

The orange gin really does make a difference, especially when there is no garnish available. I highly recommend getting a bottle of the orange gin if you can. Experiment with It. I know I certainly will be getting a bottle the next time I see it.

(Banner image found here)