Inspired by a cocktail I enjoyed in New York City's Flatiron Room, below is my attempt to reverse engineer the libation's delicious savory smokiness.
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| The Apriscot as listed on the Flatiron Room's Menu |
Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2.0 ounces peated Single Malt Whisky (see Whisky Note below)
- 1.0 ounce apricot liqueur
- 0.75 ounces fresh lemon juice
- 0.50 ounces orgeat
- Three dashes rhubarb bitters
Composition
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Stir, taste and adjust as you see fit. Note, I omitted the simple syrup as the orgeat I used is quite sweet, your mileage may vary. Once happy, add ice to the shaker and shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail coupe and serve up.
In the future I will experiment with stirring the cocktail rather than shaking. While shaking vs. stirring will produce a slightly different cocktail, I'm sure each version will be enjoyable.
Commentary
An absolutely delicious riff on a whiskey sour in my opinion. The smoke element is the most pronounced aspect of the drink, but the lemon and apricot do hold their own. Fascinatingly, the rhubarb bitters appear towards the end of each sip as the unmistakable taste of rhubarb danced across my tongue. While the Flatiron Room uses Ardbeg's 5-year old 'Wee Beastie', I am in the final third of a bottle of Lagavulin's 9-year old that I am trying to finish and as such used that. In truth, I think any peated Single Malt will work, but just recognize that the peat characteristic of the whisky you use will absolutely carryover to the cocktail. Lagavulin will produce a different cocktail than Ardbeg, Laphroaig or Caol Ila for example.
As an aside, a major thank you to the Flatiron Room for disclosing the specific spirits used in their various cocktails. I love when cocktail menus do this as it not only provides invaluable information to whiskey fans, it also greatly aids the home bartender's efforts to recreate the concoction in the comfort of their own home. Cheers!
