February(-ish) Drink of the Month - The Viking Fog Cutter

The first encountered auqavit when I was living in Minnesota, which makes sense. A clear grain spirit, usually flavored with caraway, Aquavit is native to Scandinavia. As any lutefisk or hot dish enthusiast could tell you, Minnesota is home to a large population of Swedish immigrants, so naturally I would find aquavit in the great North. Surprisingly, Minneapolis and Saint Paul don't list any "sister cities" in Sweden or Norway, but travel outside of the big towns and you'll find places like Elbow Lake (sister city: Flekkefjord, Norway) and Chisago Lake/Lindstrom, where all the signs in town are posted both in English and Swedish (sister cities are Algutsboda and Tingsryd, Sweden, respectively).

I had the pleasure of living with a few Swedes during my childhood, when we hosted au pairs to help with my brother's physical and occupational therapy. One thing I learned from the Swedes (and Danes) that lived with us was their great love for black licorice. One Dane (Christian) was very upset with the quality of American black licorice, and had me try some he had brought from home. He told me some of the ingredients would be classified as cleaning products here in the states, so it was "illegal" to import. I'm not a great lover of straight anise myself, so I found Christian's licorice abhorrent. But those Nords - they love the stuff! And so it makes sense that they would flavor their drinks with as much anise as they could.

While I will never be one to buy a bag of "all black" jelly beans, anise does do wonders to boost and compliment other flavors. It actually plays nicely with citrus/tropical flavors, as well as the vanillin in oak aged spirits. While aquavit is mostly drunk straight (in Norway, where it is usually aged in oak before serving) or as a shot during festive occasions (Sweden, where it remains unaged), it has begun showing up in cocktails. Our drink for this month takes a classic tiki drink and adds a aquavit float to give it depth and complexity. While using a clear liquid for a float doesn't do much for visual appeal, aquavit lends the drink spicy/earthy notes that transform the sweet/cirtus-y drink into something all together different. 

Ingredients: 1 oz light rum, 0.5 oz gin, 0.5 oz brandy, 0.5 oz orgeat, 2 oz orange juice, 1 oz lemon juice, 0.5 oz aquavit float

Preparation: Combine all ingredients except aquavit in a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, strain into a red wine goblet filled with crushed ice. Using a barspoon, float aquavit on top, serve ungarnished.