Balm Cocktail

My husband is a bit OCD when it comes to cocktails - sorry to get all gendered but he does the typical male thing of collecting just about everything he can - books, cocktail accessories, weird liqueurs and bitters, you name it - and he kept passing this one by because we didn't have something called 'Pimento dram', a very obscure concoction from the Caribbean of rum infused with allspice berries.  Anyhow, he read in one of the books from his hero, Dale De Groff, that you can emulate its flavour by mixing Angostura Classic Bitters and Angostura Orange Bitters.  So, tonight, we had his rather delicious interpretation of the 1930's cocktail, 'The Balm' - you need 5 parts of Oloroso/Dry Amontillado sherry, mixed; 1.5 parts Cointreau and 2 parts freshly squeezed orange juice; 2 dashes Angostura Classic Bitters and 4 of Angostura Orange Bitters.  Shake over ice, strain into a martini glass and serve with an orange twist.  It looked a bit muddy, but was a perfect aperitif, and not too alcoholic.  We forgot to take a photo but here is one from an interesting blog, Savoystomp.com, where the author worked their way through the absolute classic, The Savoy Cocktail Book, from A to Zee, as the Yanks would say. 

Reform Cocktails

Today's cocktails needed to go with the mushroom pastry puffs, that had a spike of sherry in them, so a sherry cocktail was perfect - 4 parts of dry sherry to 3 parts of dry white vermouth and a couple of shakes of orange bitters.  Shake over ice and pour into martini glasses, then add a Maraschino cherry and a little of the Luxardo Maraschino syrup from the jar.  Very elegant, very dry.

Adonis II Cocktail

We are very fond of the classic Adonis cocktail, one of the oldest in the book.  It is a simple mix of dry sherry, sweet vermouth and orange bitters.  This Dale Degroff variation was delicious too, and a little longer with the addition of fresh orange juice.  Take 2 parts sherry (we used dry Amontillado), 1 part sweet vermouth (we use the peerless Carpano Antica Formula), and 1 part freshly squeezed (please) orange juice, with a couple of dashes of orange bitters.  Shake on ice and serve in a martini glass with an orange twist.  Delicious with the Gougeres from the earlier posting before dinner.