Well, it's been awhile. Let's just say that you can call me Herr Doktor Dragon, Pater Norae. It's been a busy few months.
Anyway, we haven't had a proper battle, but I submit the following as a challenge. I claim that it is the tastiest "girl drink" ever -- perhaps the tastiest girl drink conceivable. In short, I claim that it is tasty.
Without further adieu... The SASSY FLAMINGO:
- 1 oz Gin (I used a 30 year old bottle of Gordon's -- it's a long story)
- 3/4 oz Campari
- 1/2 oz Elderflower Syrup (available at Ikea)
- 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
- 1/4 oz Blood Orange Bitters
- A few drops orange flower water
I find it best to stir all ingredients expect orange flower water with ice, strain, then add the orange flower water last. Be careful, it's easy to overdo it. I'm not sure all of the ingredients are being used to maximum effect -- in particular, I think you could probably replace the Elderflower Syrup with plain simple syrup and not have a big change. Or you could replace it with St. Germaine's and see what happened?
What would a girl drink be without elaborate presentation? I propose the following. First, get some fancy pink sugar -- I was able to get some hot pink raspberry infused sugar from the local spice shop, and grind it down to a pale pink fruity superfine sugar, suitable for rimming. Of course, if we're going to rim our glasses, we need a somewhat sugary base to apply to the rim. I used Lingonberry concentrate, also from Ikea, carefully applied around the outside. The contrast between the dark pink drink and the light pink sugar is nice.
Here's the result:
The resulting drink opens with a flowery nose, the sweet and faintly fruity sugar on the rim, and then hits with a vaguely grapefruity middle. Then, the Campari and the orange bitters take over. I promised sass, right?
