GADF 2008 Mixology Competition

For those interested parties, here was my initial entry into the Great American Distillers Festival 2008 Mixology Competition.

Old Wood

• 1 ½ oz Dry Fly Gin
• ¾  oz Yellow Chartreuse
• ¾  oz Carpano Antica
• rinse Campari
• 3 dashes scorched Dry Fly Bitters

Rinse a chilled cocktail glass with Campari.  Stir liquors with ice and strain into Campari-rinsed cocktail glass.  Spray Dry Fly Bitters through a flame and into the glass.

About the drink

The cocktail is named Old Wood because I had originally wanted to base a drink on the Bijou (Jewel) cocktail, a favorite of mine.  Since Dry Fly is distilled is Washington, I figured the name of the state jewel, if not already taken, would be a fine choice.  Well, there’s no state Jewel for Washington, but there is a state gem.  That gem, is petrified wood.  Hence, the Old Wood cocktail.  I also think it leads in nicely to the use of Yellow Chartreuse VEP, with the name Very Old Wood.

Dry Fly Bitters

• 3 parts Caramel Syrup
• 3 parts Toasted Coriander Tincture
• 2 parts Lavender Tincture
• 2 parts Spearmint Tincture
• 1 part Madagascar Vanilla Bean Tincture
• 1 part Seville Orange Tincture
• ½ part Dried Granny Smith Apple Tincture
• ¼ part Wormwood Tincture

Solids should be infused in 95% grain spirit.  The Coriander, Apple and Orange take around 3-4 days to infuse, the Lavendar, Mint, Vanilla and Wormwood take 24-48 hours.

Caramel Syrup is Caramelized Cane Sugar mixed 4:1 with water, then shaken until dissolved.

The Dry Fly Bitters were developed to aromatically accentuate the botanicals found in Dry Fly Gin.  Flaming them brings a bit more of the fragrance into the air, and adds to the nose of the drink.

Tagged as: carpano antica, cocktail, competition, dry fly gin, gadf, homemade, OBG, old wood, recipe, yellow chartreuse