I’ve been getting into tiki cocktails lately and came across this one on a German-language spirit review blog (https://schlimmerdurst.net/2019/04/09/saarwhisky-absinthe/). It’s a weird concoction with absinthe as the base liquor and I love it! I’ll have to upgrade my 0.2l bottle of absinthe to a full-size one.

original recipe:
1 oz absinthe,
⅓ oz Campari
1⅔ oz pineapple juice
¾ oz lime juice
⅔ oz orgeat
shaken
served up
garnished with mint

my recipe:
15ml La Fee absinthe,
5ml Aperol,
5ml Cynar,
25ml pineapple juice,
11ml lime juice,
10ml orgeat,
shaken,
dirty dump on cracked ice

I did it this way because my Campari was all the way to the back of my cupboard, but I dug it out later for a Jungle Bird and after trying the original version I prefer my version with Aperol and Cynar; Jungle Bird is pretty much the only drink (that I tried) where I actually like Campari. Part of it might be that my bottle of Campari is pretty old, though - it’s still very bitter, but the secondary aromas were too muted to stand up against the other ingredients. I also made it half size, because that’s how I roll.

I also tried it with Ricard pastis (increased the amount to account for the lower ABV), this brought in some licorice notes that I’d rather do without. Looks like I’m not getting around buying that full-size bottle of absinthe!

And one of these days, I’ll stop being too lazy to make a proper garnish.

Update: I tried batching this. Even just 2 hours later, the anise and Cynar bitterness have considerably mellowed (I blame the pineapple enzymes). Don’t batch it unless you want to be bored.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgOP
      4·
      3 days ago

      Interestingly, based on the names I’d assume that the Fairy Godmother came first, but I couldn’t find any reference to it that actually mentioned when it was invented (and the blog posts I saw where from 2023), while the Fairy Sugar Mama was invented in 2014 by Andrew Mils according to Difford’s Guide.

  • RBWells@lemmy.worldM
    2·
    3 days ago

    Wow this recipe looks so weird! Campari and absinthe are both so intense and sweet. I can almost see it working with orange juice, the pineapple juice is throwing me.

    Going on the list for after this Dry July, sure we’ll have pineapple juice, planning tepache after the strawberry kvass is gone.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgOP
      2·
      3 days ago

      I find La Fee absinthe fairly dry, there’s only so much sugar you can fit into a 68% ABV spirit. Some other absinthes are definitely on the sweet side, but at least when I tried it with pastis, which is a lot sweeter than La Fee absinthe, that wasn’t actually an issue for me - Campari’s (or Cynar’s) bitterness balances it easily.

      Campari and pineapple works great in the Jungle Bird, too!

  • highduc@lemmy.ml
    2·
    3 days ago

    I’m intrigued because I have most ingredients except the pineapple juice, I’m always missing pineapple juice.

    But how do you measure 5ml? With a pipette? :)

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgOP
      2·
      3 days ago

      I drew measuring lines on a small shotglass for cases like this. The measurements obviously aren’t that accurate, but it’s close enough - not any worse than measuring by the bar spoon, at least, which AFAIK would be the more standard method. TBH a pipette might actually be the easier option.

      Or just make it full size, pour half and save the rest of the mix for later (before it gets into contact with ice, of course). Or make a whole batch!

      I’m intrigued because I have most ingredients except the pineapple juice, I’m always missing pineapple juice.

      Packaged juice kind of goes against the serious cocktail making ethos, but I make an exception just for pineapple - it’s way too much effort to make fresh pineapple juice when you’re just making drinks for yourself, but with a quality juice the drinks are usually still worth making.