Bermuda Bouquet

Bermuda Bouquet:

• Juice of 1/4 orange
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 1 tsp. powdered Sugar (2 tsp. Simple Syrup)
• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 tsp. Grenadine
• 1/2 tsp Curacao

Shake and strain into 8 oz. Highball glass.

This one is interesting, and it once again brings to mind, just how much ice did people use in the Old Mr. Boston Cocktail Book days? The recipe calls for none in the glass, which I started with, and quickly noticed that we were left with about 5 oz. of liquid in an 8 oz. glass, which left a lot to be desired for presentation. I chose to drop in two large ice cubes, both to keep things cool and also to raise the liquid level. I chose large ice cubes (perfectly 1 in. square!) to minimize dilution and ice melt, which worked through the duration of the drink. It's so foreign to me to not just fill the glass in question with ice and strain the drink over the top. I think going forward, unless the recipe calls for something specific, I'm going to just put in a few large ice cubes. Agreed? Good.

Also assumed, mostly because it's getting annoying to have to continue to write out an oz. measurement, is that when something calls for 1/2 of a lime or some such thing, I'm just going to do that. I usually convert it to oz. and then add that much, which is good and precise, but I'm finding that sometimes it makes me over-think the drink. With this one in particular, I used my standard "1/2 of a fruit" measurement of 3/4 oz. of Lemon juice, and the drink came off too sweet. I made it a second time through, simply using half of a lemon, and it was perfectly balanced. So from here on out, for drinks from the Old Mr. Boston DeLuxe Official Bartender's Guide, I'm going to use medium sized Limes, large Lemons, normal sized Oranges, and so on. Basically, whatever seems to be the normative fruit size will be the one I use. It's not as precise, but I think it should suffice.

Anyway, on the actual drink, it's a nice mix of flavors, but as I said, using too little Lemon juice created a drink that was a bit too sweet. The Apricot Brandy was very forward, which may have contributed to the overall sweetness, but adding back in the correct amount of Lemon juice fixed that right up. Very nice and tropical, as the name would suggest. With the correct balance, this one is really quite delightful! Recommend.