August Drink of the Month - The Blue Orchid

First, a programming note: I realize its not yet August, but I'll be traveling for the next two weeks, so I felt the need to get the August DotM up before I left. I hope I haven't offended anyone by talking about August while we're still in the middle of July!

Now on to this month's drink. This was a month when I went to the store and looked around for a fun new ingredient and then decided what drink to make with it after I got home. I went with my friend Zack to City Wide Liquors yesterday, but nothing stood out to us as we roamed the aisles. We were about to give up and buy some Kirschwasser (clear, German cherry brandy) when Zack had the genius idea to invest in some new, exotic bitters instead. I came home with some Fee Brother's Black Walnut bitters as well as some Rose Water (also from Fee Brothers). I'm slowly growing my bitters collection, already having bought Angostura bitters (the classic "bitters"), orange bitters (the second most commonly used bitter variety) and Wild Cherry bitters (great in as Old Fashioned, as noted earlier).

We played around for a bit with the Black Walnut bitters, and even found a decent drink designed to bring out their unique flavor using Rye, Grand Marnier and maple syrup (an Autumn Leaves, featured in Esquire), but nothing we made really stood out to us. I did read that the Black Walnut bitters would be excellent in a Manhattan, and I believe it - their flavor enhanced the smoky flavor of the Rye quite well in the Autumn Leaves. I should be posing on Manhattans some time in the near future, and we will have more to say about the Black Walnut bitters then.

After playing around with the Black Walnut bitters, we turned to the Rose Water. Unlike the newer Black Walnut bitters, there were plenty of recipes to explore with Rose Water, which has been around since ancient times, especially in Turkish and Middle Eastern cultures. Most recipes called for it to be combined with sparkling lemonade, and I can understand how the strong floral taste of the Rose Water would combine well with the tartness of lemonade. The drink we ultimately settled on, however, was called a Blue Orchid. Before giving the recipe, I should make a disclaimer: there are many websites that list recipes for Blue Orchids using Hpnotiq (a blue vodka similar to UV Blue), vanilla vodka and a splash of OJ. This is a much sweeter drink then the one we made - and I would never make it due to my long-standing feud with all blue-colored "fun" vodkas like Hpnotiq and UV Blue. Our Blue Orchid, following a recipe from absolutdrinks.com, featured bourbon as the principle ingredient, resulting in a much smokier drink. The blue color comes from Blue Curacao, which adds a slight hint of orange to the drink and the Rose Water provides a very nice contrast to the bourbon - it has its own distinctive note while also sweetening the drink ever so slightly (though most of the sweetness comes from the Blue Curacao).

Here is the recipe we used. Simply combine the following ingredients:

3 ounces Bourbon*
1 ounce Blue Curacao
2-3 dashes Rose Water

The Blue Orchid

*Quick note on bourbons: Old Grandad is a great inexpensive bourbon if you need recommendations.
Cabin Still is also an okay brand for this drink. Don't buy the expensive $30-50 bottles for mixing - those should be served neat or on the rocks (if for some reason you feel the need to dilute your drink).

Shake the three ingredients over ice for 10-15 seconds, strain and serve in a Martini glass. The blue color is quite pretty - the amber of the bourbon combined with the Blue Curacao creates a dark aquamarine. As far as blue drinks go, it is one of my favorite - perhaps just behind the Blue Hawaiian, which stands at the pinnacle of all blue drinks.

Enjoy your Blue Orchid!