Robilar's Gambit

Photo by Paul Bratcher, from flickr.

Combining strong liquors is a bit like putting on flashy pants with a flashy shirt. Often, it's just going to clash, but every once in a while it can really come together nicely. For some reason, I was inspired to try mixing Cherry Heering with Green Chartreuse, a recipe that sounds destined to taste like some sort of Lovecraftian cough syrup. But it ended up turning out smooth.
I started by just tasting the Chartreuse and the Cherry Herring together, to get some feeling for what I was working with. It didn't taste great, but it gave me hope that if it was chilled and mixed with a base spirit, it wouldn't be too bad. My first try involved scotch. I thought that scotch would be strong enough to stand up to the other ingredients in the mix. It's not, really, but mezcal wasn't either. A really peaty scotch might be the way to go here. Alternatively, if it doesn't really matter, maybe just a cheapish whiskey.

The result was pretty good. I added some Boker's Bitters, because it needed something else, and I wanted to let the other ingredients shine through. But they're probably strong enough that you could use something like Hellfire bitters and get a totally different drink. The cherry ends up balancing the Chartreuse quite well, so that the final result is pretty understated. Ironically, it might make a good winter warming drink. Recipe after the jump.