Time gets shorter for each of us, that is, as we count each day from our birth forward towards an undoubted end. Does that make each moment sweeter, or more bittersweet? All we know of this life is what we get. The other side of consciousness, that dark realm of non-being which we can only imagine, awaits the return of our molecular dust to the ultimate universal dispersal. Such mordant thoughts on a pretty day!
As we age and grow increasingly frail, how much of our thought is made out of the memory of idealized experience--the rush and pressure of young love, the ecstatic inertia of physical recreation, the delight in music and embroidered language, the comic charm, the seductive taste, the awe at phenomena? Do the young appreciate what they possess? Certainly, youth is wasted on the young. But life isn't wasted on me. I'm enjoying it as much as I can.
Starting with these two delightful original cocktail mixes. They haven't names yet, so they enter the world nameless and innocent of association. This first one is liltingly lyrical and gentle, and if you were blindfolded you might guess it had chocolate in it. Such is the mystery of flavor!
4 parts gin
1 part apricot liqueur
1/2 part cotton candy liqueur
1/2 part irish mist
1 1/2 part cream
4 dashes Angostura bitters
Measures by proportion. Shaken gently and served up in a snowy chilled glass.
The second is equally mysterious in the way it masks its essential flavors of cherry, mint and elderflower. Plus the ambiguous combination of sweet lime and green lime makes it more elusive yet. Most drinkers like simple, straightforward flavor combinations, but complex ones intrigue me, which is what makes me keep experimenting.
4 parts gin
1 part maraschino liqueur
1/3 part peppermint schnapps
1/3 part St. Germaine liqueur
1/2 part lime
1 part sweet lime
Measures by proportion. Very sophisticated impression. This is an elaboration upon gin's complex herbal character. The thin air of delicate distinctions. Of fine splittings of meanings, of shaded implications. Shaken and poured into very cold frosted glasses.
We will try each of these (I promise) but (speaking for myself regarding a couple of the ingredients) with trepidation. That being said, any since, purposive advance into the cocktail literature and experience is to be greeted with respect and joy and we feel both. Thank you. Curtis (yes, also).
ReplyDelete"complex things intrigue me"
ReplyDeleteI'll drink to that !
as also to that "memories of idealized experiences"....
mostly of 'wine,women/girls & song' "
title of recent "run".... As I Re:call
or
as Confucius pit "it" (just the other day):
"a little wine makes wise-men of us all"