I’m in the same camp as Jay¹ , except for the occasional excursion into Thursday Drink Night with an experiment of a drink among friends, I tend to leave the development of original drinks to the experts. Or, at least those in Playboy’s Top 10. That is until there is an interesting Rye or set of bitters at stake, which is exactly where I found myself this weekend with the allure and deadline of Marshall’s contest looming large in my mind. I also had bergamot-tarragon syrup to experiment with. As for why I had that particular syrup hanging around, that’s a tale for another day. With “Spring” and rye as the guiding stars per the contest rules, I set my boat a sail. I landed on the friendly and warm shores of The Revivalist, my attempt to acquire bitters and Templeton Rye in my favorite way, at Marshall’s expense.

The Revivalist

• 2oz Rye whiskey
• 1/2oz Amer Picon
• 1/2oz Bergamot-Tarragon syrup*
• 1/4oz Maraschino liqueur
• 1/4oz Lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and double-strain² into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon peel over the drink and garnish with a lemon twist.

*Bergamot-Tarragon syrup: Bring simple syrup (1:1.5) just to boil and remove from heat, add tarragon and bergamot leaves and leave to sit and cool with syrup for at least one hour. Strain all into sterilized container.

This took several tries to get right. Originally I had the lemon juice and Amer Picon inverted and the tartness of the lemon juice along with the herbaceousness of the syrup led it into highly unfortunate bile territory. There was a good start there but it needed to feature the freshness of the syrup, the heartiness of the rye – and I do recommend a hearty rye in this, a nuttier and milder rye like Old Overholt will play dead in this – and the dancing combination of rye and Amer Picon more clearly. After several adjustments and misses I arrived at the recipe above.

I was worried that the volume of syrup would overly thicken the drink and make it tacky but the Amer Picon tamps that down and counters well enough to allow enough of the syrup to be present to bring the cucumber notes of bergamot and the fresh tarragon through. Also, using a strong rye alongside the maraschino allows the rich cherry must and nut character of the maraschino to express itself without overtaking the drink, which maraschino can quickly do. This iteration presents a well-structured drink that settles through several nuances on the palate and yet finishes cleanly. I was surprised at how much of the syrup could be present without dropping it off a cliff of candyland yick but, again, the drink strikes a nice even chord. Hopefully I’ll get to try it with Templeton in short order. Thanks for the opportunity fellas, it was fun.

To enter the contest yourself or to keep up with the submissions and results, visit the contest submission rules.

1. this is a reference to Jay’s comments in the latest issue of Mutineer Magazine [↩]
2. yes, it’s obvious in the photo I didn’t double-strain and, dammit…fine, I admit it, it very often improves a drink, you bastards [↩]