Ty Ku Cherry

Day  288, Cocktail 286

Monday night rolled around and I was in the mood for something a bit lighter.  I’ve been pretty whiskey heavy lately, and my detour through brandy for a week still kept me in the same vein of brown liquors.  So as I contemplated what do make down in the Twilight Lounge I pulled out my trusty bottle of Beefeater Gin to use as my base.  Next I opened up the liqueur cabinet (yes, I have one whole cabinet dedicated to liqueurs, and one dedicated to liquor – each about the size of a double door upper cabine in your kitchen) and started to root around.  The Ty Ku bottle was near the front and I swear I could hear it calling my name, so I picked it up.  As I did so, my hand brushed against the Luxardo Maraschino bottle and it the touch was electric…I knew that these two must somehow form a winning combination.

  Ty Ku Cherry

• 2 oz Beefeater Gin
• 1 oz Ty Ku
• 1/8 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill and mix.  Strain into a chilled coupe.  Garnish with a lemon peel.

Hmmm, this was nice.  Light, refreshing, with just a hint of melon from the Ty Ku and cherry from the Luxardo.  The Ty Ku has enough volume to tone down the gin (not that gin needs toning down) so that it wasn’t an overwhelming flavor.  This cocktail makes a great before dinner drink for lighter fare – think summertime menus of crisp salads or grilled tuna.  I can’t wait for warmer weather to arrive so I can have one while sitting out on the patio overlooking the pool!

I wanted to also comment on my use of the ‘ol 1/8 oz measure.  It’s actually pretty easy to achieve 1/8 oz as that is the volume of my bar spoon.  So when I make a cocktail that needs 1/8 oz it gets 1 bar spoon full of whatever it is.  1/4 oz is two bar spoons, etc.  If there is one piece of equipment worth having, it is the long handled bar spoon!

Cheers!