September Drink of the Month - The Puckered Dutchman

While bored at work a few weeks ago, I found myself browsing the Food Network's list of "Best Summer Drinks" and bookmarking a few that seemed worthy of trying later at home. One that stuck out for me was a drink called "Dutch Timidity" from Food Network personality Justin Warner. The drink pictured is a very pretty light purple (almost blue) and it contains one of my all-time favorite cocktail ingredients: crème de violette. The rest of the drink is composed of genever (he spells it "jenever" because he is snooty (okay, Wikipedia also agees with him), but I learned to spell it with a "G," and you are stuck with my sensibilities - and Wikipedia thinks my way is acceptible as well), lime juice, and Aperol. If this blend of ingredients sounds familiar, it should. The very first drink I ever wrote about for my blog (a drink that still remains one of my all-time favorites) is the Aviation - a blend of gin, lemon juice, crème de violette, and maraschino liqueur. It is pretty easy to see that Warner's Dutch Timidity is a riff, introducing similar but slightly different ingredients. Dry gin is replaced with old, Dutch-style, malt-forward gin (genever). Lemon is swapped for another citrus in lime. And maraschino is replaced by Aperol - another bitter & sweet liqueur.

I liked Warner's drink, but his mixing is imprecise (using "dashes" instead of ounce pours) and - especially if you use a malt-forward genever - its a little light on the crème de violette. Here is the recipe for the drink as he pours it: 2 oz Genever, 1 oz lime juice, 2 dashes crème de violette, and 2 dashes Aperol. Compare that to my favored Aviation recipe, which is made with 2 oz gin, 1/3 oz lemon juice, 1/3 oz crème de violette and 1/4 oz maraschino. For our drink this month, I decided to find a happy medium between these two extremes (fully admitting that I like a little too much crème de violette in my Aviations). I call this variation the "Puckered Dutchman," an homage to genever's roots and the sour/bitter notes from the lime and Aperol:

In a cocktail shaker, combine the following ingredients:

2 oz Genever*
1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/3 oz crème de violette
1/4 oz Aperol

Shave over ice for 10 seconds. Double strain to remove any remaining lime particulates and serve in a coupe glass.

*Based on the picture accompanying the recipe, Warner is using "young" genever, which is clearer and tastes more like a neutral spirit. I much prefer "old" genever, which must contain at least 15% malt wine, and has a flavor more akin to whiskey. Old genever is a yellowish-brown in color, so if you use old genever in your drink you will not get the same pretty purple hues as Warner - it will look more like the picture accompanying this post.

I hope you enjoy your Puckered Dutchman!