I’m raising my glass to celebrate this fine new puzzle with a cocktail that references the original old box it is contained inside. The Elixir De Longue Vie (Elixir of Long Life) was created about ten years ago by Kevin Galliano at the Big Easy bar in London, England. I’ll spare you my Texas comments about a barbeque restaurant in Covent Garden that is named after New Orleans, ahem, but the drink is really good. It is, after all, modeled loosely on the Negroni template, or in this case the Boulevardier, which is a Negroni that replaces the gin for whiskey. You had me at Negroni.

In this delightful retrofit, the whiskey in question is cognac, which is not actually a whiskey. Whiskey is distilled from grains, and Cognac is distilled from grape brandy. Rather than sweet vermouth, we find Pineau des Charentes, another delicious French spirit. Pineau is a sweet, most commonly white, wine which has been fortified with cognac, so naturally goes very well with more cognac. I substituted a robust, aged sweet white vermouth, having discovered that someone had pilfered the Pineau. The bitter spirit here, which is typically Campari in a Negroni, is replaced with the herbal liqueur Chartreuse, and not much of it, for that matter. So the drink profile is not nearly as bitter as a Negroni. Finally, taking the entire drink off on a tangent, we find chestnut liqueur. Again, I need to go roast some chestnuts, so in the meantime I used walnut liqueur. The drink, which promises the drinker shall be able to enjoy many more, is absolutely delicious, and I highly recommend it, to keep you Young. Cheers!

Elixir of Long Life by Kevin Galliano

1 1/3 oz cognac (Remy VSOP)

½ oz crème de chataigne

½ oz Pineau des Charentes blanc

1/6 oz yellow Chartreuse

2 dashes lemon bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Lemon twist.

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