Cheshire Cat

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!

- Lewis Carroll

Cheshire Cat Cocktail

A Cheshire Cat cocktail, from my perspective, would ideally be “invisible”, or mostly so. The problem is that Caperitif, the South African vermouth which helps define this classic cocktail, has an amber hue. Caperitif was quite popular in the 1930s when the cocktail was originally introduced, but fell out of favor and became defunct until very recently. Modern bartenders created various work arounds and substitutes for the missing spirit. The two other ingredients, gin and dry sherry, are either clear or very pale yellow, so work well in building an invisible drink.

You’ll want to make this drink disappear

Bartender Dan Godinez has a nice Jabberwock variation in which he completes the third ingredient with three separate pieces – a bit of dry Dolin Blanc vermouth, a bit of the delicately bitter aperitif Lillet, and a bit of the sweetly floral St. Germaine, an elderflower liqueur.  The result is a truly lovely martini, a Jabberwock full of mystery and grace. I incorporated a touch more bitter irony into the Cheshire Cat version, using Luxardo’s Bitter Bianco amaro, a classically bitter red amaro that has been turned crystal clear during the distillation process. It’s entirely confusing, which couldn’t be more appropriate here. Cheers!

A grinning pair

Cheshire Cat

1 oz gin

1 oz Manzanilla sherry infused with chamomile

1/3 oz Luxardo bitter Bianco

1/3 oz Lillet

1/3 oz elderflower liqueur

2 d lemon bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Garnish with a lemon peel grin.

See all the cocktails from the series:

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