Hoi An
Recipe:
- 50ml Sampan Rhum Vietnam 43%
- 10ml dry vermouth (something floral, herbal, like Belsazar Dry)
- 10ml pineapple liqueur (preferably Giffard)
- 1 bsp runny honey (3:1)
- 5 drops Bittermen's Elemakule Tiki Bitters
Stir everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled rocks glass over one large ice cube, garnish with pineapple leaves attached or (for the not so lazy guys with more time:) a dried half pineapple slice with the peel still attached.
Purely because I like to use rare, interesting ingredients, I thought in the beginning I'd use the great pineapple eau de vie from 4hasen, as well as the Vetiver Gris from the exciting MUYU liqueur trilogy and I'm still convinced, somewhere hidden in that combo is a great drink. I Tried it with a split 43%/65%, different ratios and bitters, but no matter how, it was always just "solid to nice", it lacked the magic in the interaction.
I was immediately impressed however with this variant, with dry vermouth for the "grass liqueur" and the pineapple liqueur instead of the pineapple spirit, so in the end a rather mainstream combo instead of the planned hipster stuff...
In the nose a great florality, fresh sugar cane and a sweetness, but quite a unique, not cloying sweetness, just reminiscent of a flower bouquet, floral honey, lily of the valley, fresh chamomile, something like that, lemongrass and dried pineapple.
In the mouth exactly the same, starts with fresh sugar cane, pineapple and flowers, elegant chamomile, some gentian and a touch of cinnamon in the finish from the bitters, there is also suddenly mint, lemongrass, pineapple chips remain.
Named after the charming, very pretty - and almost semi-mediterranean looking in some shots - Vietnamese town of Hoi An, on whose southern coast the distillery Distillerie d'Indochine is located.
