Fun with La Cigarrera’s Manzanilla

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I picked up a half bottle of “la cigarrera” manzanilla. It is really pale and dry like every other Manzanilla I’ve ever had but has a pungent and intoxicating nose of the likes I’ve never come across. The character and complexity of the wine really shows what sherry cask finishes do for highland whiskeys. As hypnotic as this stuff is on the nose, it is not really that much fun to drink without the appropriate food to elevate it. I find it beyond the average of anyone’s taste for dryness, which makes it perfect to a cocktail. Pair the sherry with something sweet and its back into balance. If paired with a highland whiskey like Macallan you can get the acidity a cocktail needs with uninterrupted flavor continuity.

1 oz. macallan cask strength
1 oz. manzanilla (la cigarerra)
.5 oz. luxardo maraschino
.5 oz. cynar
2 dashes peychaud’s bitters

This drink is a beautiful attempt at pairing sherry cask seasoned whiskey with sherry as a cocktail acid. I get an uninterrupted highland experience with no annoying lemon or lime interrupts. The sherry alone with its acidity balances the sweetness of the liqueurs. The whiskey and sherrys’ own flavors are so good together they don’t even need to be elevated with vermouth. I typically despise maraschino, and its subtle almond note always reminds me of poison putting me on edge, but here it works. Another beautiful liqueur like strawberry would probably work even better. The cynar really moves this drink deep into the bitter cocktail genre but definitely isn’t the only way to go. Hopefully I can come up with a drink that is unforgettable.

***update!***

1 oz. macallan cask strength
1 oz. manzanilla (la cigarerra)
.5 oz. sloe gin (plymouth!)
.5 oz. yellow chartreuse
2 dashes peychaud’s bitters

This drink turned out really well with decadently powerful flavors. If blind tasted the cocktail almost resembles a Manhattan with fruit and botanicals contrasted against brown liquor. Hopefully it wouldn’t be called over engineered. Everything is a little more advanced than a Manhattan because the blackthorn fruit is more exotic and there is more well integrated structure from the sherry. I would really love to try this again with a common rye whiskey like Old Overholt instead of the Macallan. I think that with the sherry in tandem the cocktail would be wildly fun to drink for low dollars.

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