Becherovka has been unavailable in our area for quite some time. I think that hit Phred at Elemental hard; he makes a variation on a classic Manhattan using it. I found some in Sodo last week and snagged a couple of bottles to experiment with. It tastes a bit of cloves. I have no idea what I’m going to do with two whole bottles. Next month’s party may have to feature a clove punch.
This is something I threw together for a test drive. It wasn’t a bad drink for a summer evening. Plus, I got a rather pretty picture of it.
Добрый вечер (Dobri Vyetcher, roughly)
1.75 oz gin (I used Martin Miller’s)
half a lime, cut into quarters
.5 oz Becherovka
two dashes of Arak (though you could use absinthe / herbsaint / pastis)
top with tonic
Muddle the limes and the Becherovka. Add the Arak (or whatever). Shake hard with ice and pour the whole thing in a Collins glass. Add more ice if necessary. Top with an ounce or two of tonic, to taste. Go out on the porch, soak up some sun, pretend you’re reading the New Yorker, sip, and fall asleep on the chaise lounge.
If you hadn’t guessed already, this is just a froofy gin and tonic. That’s what happens when you have a froofy liquor cabinet. Also, cherries have nothing to do with it. They’re just pretty. And delicious. And now eaten.
вечер, roughly prounounced “vee-et-cher”, is the Russian word for evening, which is as good a time as any to enjoy this drink. Every time I try to say Becherovka, I end up turning the B into a V – a lowercase ‘b’ in Cyrillic is pronounced as a V. That’s a long way of saying I’m an idiot and can’t pronounce my ingredients properly. Whatever. Добрый вечер. (Good evening.)