For the most part, I can make a pretty decent cocktail. Years of practice have refined the process, and I can usually find my way around gin, vodka, tequila and bourbon pretty well. (Rum and whiskeys remain mysterious, but I’m open to experimentation.) That said, I still get tripped up from time to time. A desperate attempt to make use of all the pretty dogwood fruit one year resulted in a libation that looked far better than it actually tasted. A pisco sour using an egg white should have stayed in its shell.
Then there’s this number, which suffers from the same fate of looking vastly superior to how it tastes.
It seems to be the season for blood oranges, so I picked up a couple from the market. Using the juice of one (and a slice of its vermillion flesh for garnish – the only time I like a slice in my drink) I added some vodka and Cointreau then shook it all up with some ice. (The secret to a good drink is to take ample time to shake and/or stir it with the ice. Far too often people rush through this step. I like when a little of the edge is taken off, and that only happens when there’s a slight bit of melting, and an instant or two of evaporation. Purists may scoff, but I’ve never been pure.)
Maybe the quantities were off, maybe the blood orange wasn’t quite ripe, or maybe I’ve just finally outgrown vodka, but this one did not turn out well. It did look pretty, though. Some days that’s enough.
