La Viña
Recipe:
- 30ml rye (preferably Russel's Reserve)
- 30ml cream sherry (preferably Lustau East India Solera)
- 30ml Amaro Nonino
- 1 dash orange bitters (preferably Regan's)
Stir everything on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass.
Day calls it a lighter Manhattan in taste, and also one of his first attempts at low ABV. Well, what exactly low ABV means and whether a drink with 33% spirit and the rest also alcohol is actually low ABV is debatable.
But what it definitely is, is really perfectly balanced. A great nose, aromatic, deep, bitter orange, spices, dried fruit, leather and nuts. Similar in the mouth, the Nonino is very nice here and yet not too sweet, especially its orange peel and leathery notes, as well as a few lighter herbs. The rye is rather subtle with a nice light, guess what, rye note, not as Christmassy as usual, the cream sherry combines everything with juicy, fresh raisins and nuts.
Apart from that, I spontaneously had the idea of lining the glass with a fine orange zest that goes around the inside (or even stir the drink with it, you'd have to test whether it's not already too much) and maybe expressing the oils on top, which together would give the drink a great little kick. A great, simple cocktail.
Source: Alex Day, 2009, from: Death & Co (Kaplan, Fauchald, Day), p. 206
