September Drink of the Month - Seymour Glass

Last month, Ann and I had the opportunity to travel out of the country, visiting Split, Croatia to celebrate the wedding of my good friend Dolu. The wedding was a blast, and it even made the local paper (and the Google Translate version of this story is hilarious, so give it a read if you're bored). Split itself was a fun, coastal town. It was a nice mix of Italy and Eastern Europe, with a healthy dose of sea salt and olive groves mixed in for good measure. There was pizza and pasta everywhere, but also hearty goulashes with hints of warming spices (Maybe nutmeg? Whatever we had, it was tasty!).

As is my custom when we travel, I went out in search of local spirits. The most common local liquor is palinka, a fruit brandy that is also found with my mother's people in Hungary. We've made a few drinks before with palinka/rakia (specifically, we used slivovitz, which is plum brandy - making a Slivopolitan), but I tend not to serve palinka often. My mother referred to palinka as "rotgut," so it is a hard sell with my family! I did discover one other local liqueur, however. Maraska Orahovac is a form of the northern Italian nocino. It is made from unripe green walnuts, and then sweetened with simple syrup to produce a bitter/sweet liqueur. I wish I'd know about this growing up - our neighbors had a huge green walnut tree that was always dropping huge nuts. If only I'd know, I could have a little cottage industry!

While in Croatia, I didn't have a lot available to mix with. We ended up mixing our Orahovac with Coke (which was surprisingly pleasant!). The locals usually serve it as a digestif, so they laughed at my Orahovac and Coke order at first. But it was at all the bars at the wedding, and once the bartenders ran out of rum and whiskey (it was that kind of wedding, but that is a story for another day), they started pushing my O&C on the drinking crowd. While I would happily drink O&C again, the drink for this month is a little more refined application of Orahovac. It combines the Croatian nocino with applejack and lime. The walnut flavors marry exceptionally well with the applejack (think walnut-crusted apple pie, and realize the genius of this drink), and the lime gives just enough sour to counteract the bitter in the Orahovac. I adapted this recipe from the Seymour Glass, which was featured in a 2010 article in the WaPo.

This one is a double pour

The recipe for the adapted Seymour Glass (named after a "nutty" character from the J.D. Salinger canon) can be found here:

In a Boston shaker, combine the following
1.5 oz Applejack
0.75 oz Maraska Orahovac*
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup

Shake over ice for 10 seconds, and then strain. Garnish with an apple wedge.

*Any nocino will do if you have not recently traveled to Croatia and come back with a suitcase full of booze. The WaPo article suggests subbing Frangelico in a pinch. Don't do that. It is way too sweet.

I hope you enjoy your Seymour Glass!