You may or may not have known this, but I like making cocktails out of wine. Or things that were once wine. Or things that were made from wine. However you want to say it, I like making cocktails out of wine. So when I saw that there was a cocktail competition coming up that called for the use of sherry (a type of wine made from white grapes grown around the town of Jerez, Spain and fortified with brandy), I was like, “I’m all over this.”
So I reached for the Morgenthaler Standby Formula book and grabbed this old chestnut. First, I bolstered the sherry with something bitter, put in a touch of something sweet, and finished it with something absinth-y. Then I dumped that one down the sink and tried about ten other combinations. The result is this cocktail, The Solera Club.
I like wine-based cocktails, because they don’t punch you in the face the way, say, a 94-proof gin-based cocktail is going to. This means these drinks are going to be more versatile, and drinkable on more occasions than a big spirit-driven monster. A lot of my customers like to end the night with one of these low-proof sippers, but I take a more European tack myself and delight in them during the late afternoon, noshing on Marcona almonds and watching the sidewalk traffic without getting falling-down drunk.
So in the spirit of early autumnal afternoon sipping and enjoying the sunshine while it still lingers, here’s the recipe:
The Solera Club Print Me
- 2 oz/60 ml sherry (cream for a sweeter, rounder drink, dry sherry such as an amontillado for a more drier, more austere drink)
- 1 oz/30 ml Cynar
- ½ oz/15 ml creme de peche
- 1 tsp/5 ml absinthe
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.
- Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
- If you're going the cream sherry route, I'd recommend garnishing with a lemon twist as I've done here. If you're using the drier, nuttier sherries, try using an orange twist.
Recipe printed courtesy of jeffreymorgenthaler.com
finally got around to trying this drink and it was delicious! although I didn’t have the recipe in front of me and guessed on the amount of creme de peche as I basically remembered the other ingredients. I used 1/4 oz mathilde peche liqueur. Another 1/4 oz would have been overkill. Really nice drink!
Sounds absolutely delicious. I love mixing wine also. When I took over the bar at the Blacksmith, the last bar manager had ordered 17 cases of rosé so I made a cocktail to move through all of that wine. It was one of the most popular drinks on that list. I also love Cynar, which used to be available for purchase through the OLCC – it’s a shame that they’ve limited their inventory so much this past year. A pleasure to meet you a couple of weeks ago and best of luck to you, although luck might not be needed as the recipe and the name are brilliant.
I don’t normally comment on blogs, but the last two days have been filled with a witchy amount of Cynar and I feel like I have to tell someone about it. I saw a bottle of the stuff for the first time yesterday morning at a small coffee bar in northern Italy. I thought it looked weird. Last night, I was eating dinner with an Italian family and they pulled out a bottle of Cynar with the limoncello. For the past week they’ve only served limoncello. Weird coincidence. Today I decided to do a little research on the stuff. The first place I check is your blog, and bam! a cocktail with Cynar in it at the top of the page. Where is all this going to end? (Somewhere delicious I hope…)
Great drink Jeffrey. Just tried it. I got the Cynar at Cask in San Francisco on Third St. Their website is caskstore.com. If you haven’t tried this you really have too! Thanks again.
Jeffrey, I love you. Your drink-invention procedure is exactly like mine. Hope you win that trip to Jerez!
I can’t find Cynar for love or money around here. Is there an acceptable workaround?
What’s the go to brand for creme de peche? Wanted to play with some ever since Faithful Scotsman at Death Co. This sounds really good, just had a Bamboo at Drop.
AKA Wine Geek,
No reason to enter this comp any more. This the winner.
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Great recipe will definitely be giving it a whirl!
Sherry competition? With whom? And is it too late to enter? Details if not too late?
That sounds nice! Maybe I’ll actually like it? xxx
what? where’s the egg white?! I’m calling nonsense 😉
(in all seriousness … looks and sounds delish)
Now THAT is a classy name for a cocktail…
that looks right up my alley! too bad we didn’t get to try that one at the cocktail shoot the other day. maybe next time…nice photo, too!