The Devonia Cocktail

Nov 17 ’08

Filed in food

Here in Oregon, it's fall. The leaves have changed colors, the weather is changing. When I go to the farmer's market, I no longer see plums; root vegetables, apples and pears are the norm now. And the apple cider is here.

I've been thinking about seasonality a lot recently; I figure that, although I can make a drink that tastes like a long summer day on a tropical beach, perhaps in Oregon in the fall I should make a drink that tastes like Oregon in the fall. A few searches on Cocktail DB later, I've found the Devonia Cocktail.

Wow! What a drink! It's not particularly strong — it has less than a full shot of alcohol — but it is extremely smooth and well balanced.

Recipe

Bendistillery Cascade Mountain gin

Fee Brothers orange bitters

Combine the ingredients, stir with ice until thoroughly chilled, and garnish with a slice of lemon. For a more complicated garnish, you could use slices of apples and/or asian pear as well.

I find the Cascade Mountain gin to be perfect for this drink. It's not a super-juniper gin like Tanqueray #10 or Bendistillery's Desert Juniper gin; it's a mellow and complex botanical gin, a little more in the Dutch style. Its mellowness lets it play with the flavors in the cider, yielding a very well-balanced drink that just tastes like apple cider, with a little enhancement. The orange bitters contribute as well, balancing out the sweetness from the cider, and lending a little holiday flavor to the drink.

Be careful with these — they're so easy to drink you don't really notice 'em going down. And boy are they tasty.