Yamabuki
Recipe:
- 45ml blended Japanese whisky
(I would recommend something elegant and silky, e.g. not a Nikka From The Barrel)
- 22.5ml bianco vermouth
(I would recommend something fruity & fresh with solid acidity)
- 15ml Montenegro amaro
- 1 dash orange bitters
Stir everything over ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon zest.
Yamabuki is one of the spring colors in Japan, you can read a interesting, short explanation about it here. Flowers are named after it, also a koi, a golden-yellow, seemingly metallic shine distinguishes the latter, for example. A beautiful and fitting name for this wonderful drink.
Aromatic, almost seemingly perfumed, if I were told it came from the brilliant Fragrances (a concept bar with the theme of perfumes, as the name suggests) in Berlin back then, under Arnd Heissen, I would believe it immediately. Like an elegant scent, in the nose and generally also in the mouth, aromatic, fresh and round with a slight sweetness in the start and the first half, with orange oil, rose petals, rosehip, grapes, citrus zest, then comes the subtle bitterness of the Montenegro Amaro, as well as the herbs in the vermouth and it ends like a slightly sweet martini with a long finish. The round, fruity nature of the Riesling-based GrapeDiggaz white vermouth (review coming soon) does particularly well here, making it as polished and elegant as possible, as well as adding a little tangy kick. If you use other brands, I would also advise using more fresh-fruity biancos with some acidity.
You can sip on this all evening, even if it settles at room temperature.
Source: Evan Leihy, Swordfish Cocktail Club, Greenville, South Carolina
