One might define elegance as beautiful simplicity. An elegant solution, an elegant dress, these are brought about by insight and understanding of their subject, and exemplify doing more with less. Details are minimal, and the more significant for it, and the whole gives an ingenious pleasing quality.
And that is a reasonable way to think about the French 75 cocktail.
Spring is moving quickly toward summer at the Villa, and a preference is seen in the Garden for drinks that are as clean and refreshing as the breeze. This is no time for cloyingly sweet mixes or anything that will give you a headache the next day!
That isn’t to say that care shouldn’t be taken, or consideration not given, to how these things are made. And that isn’t to say that it’s a difficult thing, just that some simple guidelines can make a simple pleasure even better.
Last week we met the famous Negroni and its ancestor, the Americano. Let’s have a look at some of the rest of the family – of drinks, that is, not the Italian nobility who lent them their name.
As August draws to a close, a proper tiki drink seems like a good idea. Now, this one’s a bit different, not being rum-based, but, it is a blended drink, with fruit flavors, falernum, and orgeat, so it is right at home in the tiki theme.
It’s one of the least appreciated cocktail ingredients out there, as far as I can tell: Bénédictine. Most of the time you won’t even see it on its own, but sold pre-mixed with brandy as B&B. Now, the idea of B&B is to use brandy to reduce the sweetness of the herbal liqueur, and generally I can understand that. But everything else gets adjustments like that when it gets used, so why not Bénédictine?