#39. The Dutchess Cocktail

Question: Is this an intentional misspelling, to suggest that the duchess is Dutch? or is it just a mistake? I suppose we'll never know.

1:1:1 sweet vermouth, dry vermouth, absinthe. The absinthe makes it palatable, but neither the Bammer nor I enjoyed it much. Strong vermouth aftertaste, and although the absinthe is nice, it's not a drink with much complexity. There are a lot of things in this book that are basically flat and sweet, which is uninspiring but not so bad. Flat and dry seems kind of pointless.

#32. Appetizer No. IV

Another Dubonnet appetizer: 1:1 gin and Dubonnet with a dash of absinthe.

Pretty nice! I am amazed every time by how far a dash of absinthe goes. It's a lovely addition to the already tasty Appetizer No. 1, giving it just a slight licorice edge. The Jackson is probably the nicest of the gin and Dubonnet cocktails sampled so far, but No. IV is a close second. Recommended.

Not listed by Difford's, but then, he's light on absinthe cocktails in general. Ask for this one around town! Bring back the Appetizer No. IV!

#20. Phoebe Snow

Phoebe Snow? Who's that, you say? Well, according to wikipedia, she's an American singer, born in 1952, far too late to have Ensslin name a cocktail after her in 1917. So maybe she's named after the cocktail?

Also according to wikipedia, she was originally a character in adverts for rail travel, starting in 1900, so that's probably where the drink actually originated. It's 1:1 Dubonnet to brandy, with a little absinthe.

Not bad. My friend, he of the Maker's Mark, I think called it the worst thing ever, but he laughed so I'm not convinced he meant it.

I don't know anything about brandy, so the brandy I got is probably horrible, so my Phoebe Snow is probably inferior to yours. But, the Dubonnet again proved itself a lovely, mellow mixer, and I like absinthe no matter what anyone says. So, Phoebe Snow gets a pass. I probably won't make it again, but it's not bad.

#18. Dixie Cocktail

This falls into the Canadian cocktail category--that grouping of drinks with totally inexplicable names. Gin, dry vermouth, absinthe (2:1:1), a quarter orange, a dash of grenadine.

Opinions were mixed. GG will barely bring herself to taste anything with any absinthe, and this has a strong absinthe scent. (A little absinthe goes a long way, which, frankly, is part of what I like so much about it. It's fantastic as a flavoring agent in small quantities.) Another sampler said, I believe, that it was the worst thing ever, but all my friends who've tried a few of the earlier concoctions were perfectly happy with this one.

The taste is mostly absinthe and orange, with some grenadine sweetness. The gin and dry vermouth get pushed to the side.

This is complicated, with big, competing tastes, but it's also pretty nice. Reminds me of some discussions of licorice with a British coworker. In this country, we eat hardly any licorice, and when we do, we eat it straight, and prefer it rubbery. In Britain, they mix licorice with Everything, and it's awesome. I would eat orange licorice by the handful if anyone wanted to sell it to me. It works just fine, unless you are an absinthe hater. And who wants to be an absinthe hater? If it was good enough for Van Gogh, it's plenty good for me.

Closest I can find to this one in Difford's is a Maurice Martini, which includes sweet vermouth but no grenadine. Similar, and different. I probably like this one, with the grenadine, better, but maybe I'll try a Maurice sometime.

#9. Absinthe Cocktail

Finally, we get somewhere. Absinthe, water, syrup, Angostura bitters. L gave me a lovely bottle of absinthe more than a year ago. It was beyond time for us to break into it for a test. Glad we did, but sorry I didn't start in on it earlier, as it's tasty.

I am not yet familiar enough with the Angostura bitters to have much of an opinion on them. This cocktail has such a strong absinthe character that I couldn't tell you what the bitters are adding. It would be a nice experiment to leave them out and try it again, and then try a third time, using the bitters. Also not sure about dashing--it's possible I should have used more.

In any case, the simple combination of high quality absinthe (Lucid is the name--don't know about your town, but in New Orleans, this is one of only a couple of available absinthe labels, and it's a top-shelf operation) and sugar makes for a lovely licorice sweetness that's simple and great. There are a lot of other recipes in Ensslin's book that involve absinthe, but I'd be perfectly happy to work my way through the rest of the bottle using this mix alone.