A Little Medicinal
Ingredients:
1.5 Gin
.75 Cynar
.33 Campari
.5 Maurin Quina
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 dash Regan’s Bitters
Instructions:
Add the Gin, Cynar, Campari, Maurin Quina, Peychaud’s and Regan’s Bitters to a chilled mixing glass. Add ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Notes:
Lightly medicinal as the name suggests, but also herbal, botanical, and a bit bitter.
Lighter yet more spirit forward than you might expect. While A Little Medicinal contains a bunch of strongly flavored ingredients (and given the name, shouldn’t it?), the taste is dominated by the gin and Maurin Quina, with botanicals and quinine laced cherry almond flavor at the forefront. The Cynar serves as bitter vermouth of sorts, a light herbal base for the other ingredients to play. Meanwhile the Campari adds just a hint of bitter orange essence, acting more as a bitters than a major ingredient. In fact, you would be hard pressed to guess Campari is in this cocktail, yet without it, the taste just isn’t the same. Finally, the choice of Peychaud’s and Regan’s bitters add further to the medicinal quality, with additional vegetal and citrus accents in Regan’s.
History:
Prior to my descent into mixological madness, I was a fan of vintage posters. Maurin Quina was one of my favorites, so naturally I jumped at the chance to try it. Lately, I have been meaning to find good uses for it in a cocktail and with the help of a few friends, Campari and Cynar, came up with the above recipe.
While A Little Medicinal may sound similar to a few other cocktails, the taste is quite different, highlighting both the importance of proportions when mixing as well as how even in smaller amounts, a modifier, like Maurin Quina can make quite a difference.
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