u/Geo_Jet

1 1⁄4 oz Straight rye whiskey (Heaven Hill Grain to Glass 61.6% alc./vol.)

3⁄4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi Storico VdT)

1⁄2 oz Green Chartreuse

1⁄2 oz Heering Cherry Liqueur

6 drop Tiki bitters

3 dash VÉGÉTAL de la Grande Chartreuse

Stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled DOF glass over a large cube of block ice. Garnish with skewered cherry.

Played around with the OG ratios a bit. More Chartreuse-forward with a bittersweet floor and spice on the finish. If using a lower strength rye maybe bump it up to 1-1/2 oz. The HH is a spice bomb that plays into the tiki bitters.

60 ml Gin (Thresh&Winnow Citrine)

45 ml Sake (Dassai 45 Junmai Daiginjo)

15 ml Maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

Stir ingredients with plenty of ice. Strain into a chilled Coupe glass. Garnish with pickled cherry blossom.

Lots of cherry blossoms bursting out of the trees this week, so I thought I’d whip together one of these. The gin has Yuzu and other “Golden Botanicals”. Koval’s riff on a Japanese-style gin, which is very enjoyable. The sake fills in for vermouth with a more subtle sweetness. The cherry blossom provides the salinity that an olive might bring. A nice Spring sipper.

I usually make my own with syrup and sparkling water. I saw this on sale at the store and decided to give it a try because of the ingredient description. Put it in a G&T with Minori Roku. I thought that combo was pretty good, but I’m not sure it would go well with many other kinds of gin.