Drunk Uncle
Recipe:
- 45ml Islay whisky
- 22.5ml Cynar
- 22.5ml bianco vermouth
Stir everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass, garnish with a grapefruit zest.
A really nice and interesting drink, you can discover a lot while tasting despite only using 3 ingredients, you can take your time with it. It even has the potential for a Scaffa-style drink maybe with another ratio, because after 5-8 minutes of gaining a bit of temperature we liked him even better than ice cold, after the flavors could develop further. Officially a Negroni twist, although in terms of the taste it's obviously worlds apart. Sure, Cynar instead of Campari is a quite common alternative, bianco vermouth also sometimes, but both of those in combination and then additionally Islay whisky? The analogy in the ship of Theseus comes to mind, in the thought experiment the question is raised whether a ship is still the same ship if every single plank of wood would have been replaced over the time of the repairs and nothing is left of the original.
The Cynar takes on almost plummy characteristics, due to the more fruity white vermouth used in this case. At the same time, the drink retains a very long dry-bitter and slightly fresh finish, of course the subtle smokiness of the Islay remains as well. The grapefruit zest as a further change away from the classic Negroni has also been a brilliant idea, it fits perfectly with its tart, invigorating freshness.
Source: Shawn Soole, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
