This is the only cocktail I’ve ever come up with where I nailed the ingredients and proportions on the first try. I’ve never changed the recipe at all from the first night I made it! I still grin every time I take that first sip, because the drink is just perfectly what I wanted it to be, a delicious combination of oaky bourbon, spicy vermouth, earthy maraschino, and herbal Fernet.
It’s sort of a Brooklyn variant, but it’s a got a lot of other stuff going on. Plenty enough that I feel comfortable christening it as its own unique drink. I’ve scoured the web and there don’t seem to be any drinks with a similar ingredient set, much to my surprise, so I’m claiming ownership. Why “The Golden Word”? … well, because you’ll have nothing but good things to say when you try it!
Oh, last thing: we’re mainly keeping the drinks in this series to ingredients that aren’t too “out there” and I know this one fails that test a bit, but seriously … spring for a bottle of maraschino and a bottle of Fernet Branca. Neither is super pricey and they’ll last you forever because you rarely need more than half an ounce of them (even a quarter ounce of Fernet can take over a drink that doesn’t have this many strong flavors). Well worth the cash.
- 2 oz. Bourbon (Basil Hayden’s ain’t bad)
- .75 oz. Sweet Vermouth (Noilly Prat or Dolin work well here)
- .5 oz. Maraschino (I recommend Luxardo)
- .25 oz. Fernet Branca
- Dash Aromatic Bitters (I made my own. Angostura‘s fine)
Combine all ingredients over ice in a pint glass and stir thoroughly. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
This article is a modified and enhanced version of a post that ran on my nightly cocktail blog, DrinkShouts.
