El Raja Key pt. 2

I wanted to try the El Raja Key again, this time with the edits I talked about here. Last time, the flavors didn't blend well, and it was too tart. This time, I replaced the grapefruit bitters with Peychaud's, used orange juice instead of muddled kumquats, and topped it off with soda water. How'd I do?

Much better. The tartness is much more subdued, more of a underlying note to the raspberry flavor. Not only that, but the raspberry flavor is more subtle, allowing everything to come together. I think the orange juice/kumquats helps the citrus to be more of a layered effect, and not simply a lemon-lime, but I'm not sure how much the ginger really adds. Perhaps I should try a variant and use Domaine de Canton instead of the simple syrup and see how that works. This isn't really a winter drink, but it'd be great for the patio in the summer warmth. Recipe after the jump.

Apple Beverage #4: Now we're cooking with fire!

This is much better than my previous attempts. It's probably the best drink since the first, and certainly the one that tastes most like apples. It's interesting just how pale it is -- the glass in the picture to the left is half full. The nose is very apple-like. The flavor is reminiscent of apples, though it's a bit bitter. I wouldn't want to put any less vermouth in it, so maybe just some more simple syrup would do the trick. That might make it too sweet though -- I'm more looking for crisp. Maybe some sort of bitters. In any case, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.

Apple Beverage #4
1.5 oz Applejack
.5 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Lemon Vodka
splash, ginger simple syrup