Charles River Punch cocktails

Follow @b_apothecary

I’m continuing with the punch because I sat down with my brother on an afternoon off and we sipped some Charles River Punch three ways. 2:1 always but with martini rossi sweet vermouth, sweet vermouth from a half bottle of stock brand with the old school label (might indicate it’s age) and with martini rossi dry vermouth. each time we added 2 dashes of hermes japanese orange bitters.

I can really amuse myself for the rest of my life with these spirit plus vermouth & dash of aromatic bitters drinks. Unfortunately the spirits get the most focus because they usually cost the most but luckily I’ve learned to disregard that. For some reason the bitters get the second most attention because popular media has turned them into a redundant article gimmick but the real truth in the pleasure of this whole thing lies in the near negligibly expensive and never written about vermouth.

Anyhow with my simple lunch time cocktail I found the martini rossi vermouth as usual to have been the worst companion. I don’t know if its the vermouth’s sweetness or flavors within the stuff but this simplistic, dominating caramel flavor comes into focus in your mouth and dominates the drink. The stock vermouth (who knows how close to what you typically find it is because of the label series) created the most adult and complex flavor. With the old wine character of the spirit you also got these shades of roasted coffee from the addition of the vermouth that reminded me of some of the finest wines I’ve drank. Complete flavor sophistication without any out of proportion notes to interfere. I initially feared the punch plus dry vermouth with orange bitters. I find that a little sugar can be tolerated to really enhance flavors in a cocktail of high proof. Luckily the punch had enough sugar on its own from the pineapple to lift the drink to brilliance. I only tried it with the martini rossi dry vermouth but its complexity really attached itself to the tail end of the spirits creating something beautiful and aperitify.

Now I need to shelf what is left of the punch for the rest of the summer and make a double batch at least next year. cheers!

Follow @b_apothecary