Happy Friday!!! You made it through another week - let’s celebrate with a cocktail! This is a sherry-based cocktail, which means you’re getting a bright copper color and acidity along with with flavors of toasty almonds, dates, and salt. Balanced with two types of vermouth, this is a simple, tasty cocktail to start your evening. This recipe comes from The Cocktail Codex from the bartenders at NYC cocktail bar Death & Co - my partner, Joe, reverently refers to this book as “the cocktail bible.”

This cocktail originated in Japan and is a variation on a martini, with sherry swapped in for the gin. It has three simple ingredients: dry vermouth, vermouth blanc, and sherry. These all happen to be fortified wines, so it’s worth taking a moment to look at what those are. Allow me to geek out for a moment.

Vermouth is an aromatized, fortified wine. This means it’s usually a fairly neutral wine, typically white, that’s steeped with herbs or other botanicals for a number of weeks, then combined with sugar and additional alcohol to bring the total ABV between 16% and 18%. The amount of sugar is what differentiates the different types of vermouth, increasing as you go from dry to blanc to sweet vermouth. For an aperitif, vermouth can be drunk over ice or as a spritz with some soda - it’s a great way to get to know what you like across types and brands.

Sherry is also a fortified wine, but it’s unflavored by botanicals. All sherry is aged in oak barrels, but different approaches to its aging lead to different types of sherries. Very dry sherries are biologically aged - this means they are aged in barrels left partially empty (in contrast to wine barrels, which are totally filled) to allow a layer of yeast (“flor”) to form, protecting the wine from oxygen and interacting with the wine to impart flavor. Richer sherries are oxidatively aged - this means they don’t form a layer of yeast but are instead exposed to oxygen and concentrate over time. And some sherries, like the amontillado sherry used in this cocktail, are created using a mix of both methods.

Ultimately, all of this cool wine transformation is combined to form this delicious and unique cocktail. Toasty and nutty, balanced with acidity and sweetness, this drink is a great way to welcome the weekend.

Bamboo

Time: 5 minutes || Servings: 1 || Source: The Cocktail Codex

• Amontillado sherry - 1 ½ ounces, preferably Lustau Los Arcos

• Blanc vermouth - ¾ ounce, preferably Dolin

• Dry vermouth - ¾ ounce, preferably Dolin

• Orange bitters - 2 dashes

• Lemon twist, for garnish

Combine the sherry, vermouths, and orange bitters and stir over ice. Strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Express the lemon peel by twisting it over the glass to release the essential oils, then rub the cut side of the peel around the edge around the glass. Place the peel in the drink or on the side of the glass as garnish.