Finals are over, and so are my hope, my life, my dreams……
What did I make last night? I think I had a Seraphim – because I miss it so – with dark rum substituting the vodka, curious how that would work, and… no. The rum has too much flavor in itself that it disturbs the roundness between Benedictine and brandy. So I was disappointed, and decided to try another new thing. Chrysanthemum.
Ever since that Attention cocktail, which had way too much absinthe in it for me, I’ve been curious what’s the optimal amount of absinthe I can endure in a drink. Stevi suggested Sazerac which calls for an absinthe rinse of the glass, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.
That brings up another story: it’s too hard to find a decent rye whiskey in Seattle. For Repeal Day originally I wanted to make Sazerac myself instead of hitting a bar, but I hit 4 liquor stores including the one in U Village and one in Northgate, best they had was Jim Beam rye whiskey, and I just… well, biased against that brand… lol Well, U Village also had a $40 rye and a $90 rye, both of which I could not afford. So yeah… anyway, back to Chrysanthemum.
Recipe:
1.5 oz. Dry Vermouth
3/4 oz. Benedictine
2~3 dashes of Absinthe
Procedure:
Pour all ingredients into a shaker half filled with ice.
Stir, and pour into glass (I prefer old-fashioned glass. It just looks right.)
Add in a lemon twist or orange twist.
Taste:
It does somewhat resemble our lovely chrysanthemum tea….somewhat, although not really. lol But if I tell you “think chrysanthemum, Think!!” You can confidently say “Yeah, I taste it now.”
What’s more interesting is that when you drink to the bottom, where the twist lies, you’d almost think you’re drinking a fruit tea, with an innovative addition of alcohol. No seriously, this lemon twist in my glass made me savior the last drip of this drink because of it!
Oh, and the absinthe? Turns out 2~3 dashes is the magic number. It sort of attacks strong on the nose, which is why I provided a range in the recipe for people like me, but it’s very gentle on the taste buds.
All in all, I like it. 
