Skulduggery

Last Thursday's TDN was sponsored by Crystal Head Vodka, a new offering from none other than the esteemed Dan Aykroyd.  In addition to having a really awesome bottle, it's quite a fine vodka.  I served up the first drink of the night, here it is:

Skulduggery

• ¾ oz Crystal Head Vodka
  
• ½ oz Pineau des Charentes
• ½ oz Grand Marnier
• ½ oz lemon
• 1/3 oz black pepper simple syrup (1:1)
• a couple extra grinds fresh pepper

shake, strain, garnish with head on a
pike (grape impaled on a Sword Martini Pick)

If you don't have black pepper syrup, just use more fresh pepper, it works nearly as well.  I like using both because I find the freshly ground stuff has an extra zing as opposed to the more mellowed flavor in the syrup.  Besides, they recently figured out that a chemical in black pepper helps the absorption of nutrients, so pour it on.
I think it's a pretty light drink with some florals and spice from the Pineau and pepper, with all the flavors tied nicely together by the Crystal Head.   Perhaps something to start with before a meal without worrying about bold flavors messing with your palate before you dine.
Dan Aykroyd himself actually joined us in the chatroom for a while to answer questions and observe some of the group's handiwork.  Of course, despite all the Ghostbusters references, I didn't put him together with his alias until I asked a stupid question, but in my defense, I did preface it with "Stupid question, but..."  By the way, he said they were writing Ghostbusters 3 now, awesome.

Odinsblood

This is the second libation I came up with for last Week's Thursday Drink Night with the theme: "Not Absinthe: Aquavit, Arak, Anisette, Becherovka, Pernod, Ricard, Sambuca - any anise spirit that isn't absinthe!"

Odinsblood

• 1¾ oz aged Aquavit (OP Anderson)
• 1 oz Cherry Heering
• ¾ oz Campari
• 1 dash Xocolatl Mole Bitters

stir, strain, serve up

I started as a base idea with the familiar Negroni, which is equal parts Gin, Sweet Vermouth, and Campari.  I thought swapping the gin for the Aquavit was natural enough, approximately like swapping caraway for juniper flavor.  The cherry heering has I think a similar richness and sweetness to the vermouth, so I thought it might be a nice thing to mix it up as well.  Using equal parts wasn't quite right. so I had to play with the ratios for balance.  The bitters were needed because the heering lacks the herbal complexity of the vermouth.  I first tried orange bitters, but they were not quite right; the mole however did the trick, and completes what I think is an interesting drink.