French Opulence
Recipe:
- 40ml Christian Drouin Le Gin Pira
- 7.5ml Chartreuse M.O.F.
- 1 bsp Bigallet China China
- 1 bsp runny honey (3:1)
- 50ml Champagne to top off
Stir first 4 ingredients on ice until sufficiently chilled, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass or champagne flute, top off with not more than ice cold 50ml of Champagne Brut. Garnish with star anise.
Since I worked with Champagne quite a bit while getting the gin and only very few drinks with gin and Champagne are known, the idea of making one appealed to me on the spot. The Le Gin Pira from Christian Drouin seemed to be the perfect choise here with its light, fresh notes. You can read more about it here. A little honey to go with the apple & pear, plus two tiny additions of some of my favorite herbal liqueurs were enough to put together a wonderfully balanced and very opulent tasting drink for almost all seasons.
On the nose you get fine anise, apple and pears in a triad, you'd think you used apple brandy or even an extracted tincture, everything tasted very natural and not like some more . Behind it there are fine Mediterranean herbs and the slightest hint of honey.
In the attack fresh apple (excitingly, it comes leeeicht stronger than the pear, the other way around than in the pure tasting, as you can read linked above), plus a fine gentian chamomile combo. The great, dry freshness of the champagne reaches out to the fruit and the very discreet honey and does not bite, in the finish still rosemary, some licorice and other herbs.
The bottle of Christian Drouin Le Gin Pira was supplied by KIRSCH IMPORT, thanks.
