Tuesday, July 5, 2011

red lady

1 1/2 oz Grapefruit-infused Gin (*)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Curaçao
1/2 oz Raspberry Purée
1 Egg White

Shake without ice, add ice, and shake again. Strain into a Collins glass. Top off with ice, and add a straw.
(*) Steep grapefruit peels for 30 minutes in gin. Strain to remove. I did not get an exact ratio of peel to gin, but some recipes online suggest 2 grapefruit zests (no white pith) to one 750 mL bottle of gin.

Two Saturdays ago, I attended the 2nd annual 19th Century Pub Crawl that I had heard about through the Four Pounds Flour blog. The event started at Eastern Standard before traveling to Stoddard's and finally Drink. I was quite impressed at how many people dressed up in period costume and attempted to experience 19th century drunk drink as best the city could provide. Since I had Pink Lady at Eastern Standard (true, more of an early 20th century concoction), I decided to continue working my way through the ladies by having a Red one at Stoddard's. The Red Lady was created by bartender Eric Cross who also served me my cocktail. Somewhat like a Clover Club with addition flavor from the Curaçao and grapefruit infusion, the recipe was surely a winner.

The Red Lady began with a raspberry aroma. The raspberry continued in the flavor arena where it combined with the lemon on the creamy sip. Next, the grapefruit peel and the gin rounded out the swallow. The Curaçao's flavor was subtle but present on the sip and swallow and provided some sweetness to balance the tart citrus and raspberry elements. Overall, the Red Lady had a slight cleansing pithy tartness to it, and it made a good modern addition to the egg white Lady series.

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