Hi there! I guess it is time to talk about cocktails once again. Hopefully, this will be the start of more regular blogging about them.

I was chatting with Tim Zohn of High West and Anthony Cozzk of Wingtip the other night and the subject of drinks which used a large amount of Angostura bitters came up. Turns out we're all a fan of that style of drink, which is no great surprise. Tim and Anthony both spoke highly of the Trinidad Sour, a cocktail I had added to my bar book but not yet tasted. So it seemed natural to pop Evernote open, find the recipe (which I got from an Imbibe article) and give it a spin.

The result is a very nice drink for this slightly warm night. There's something about bitter drinks that helps combat higher temperatures and the Angostura gives this one a nice cinnamon and clove bitter kick. It's nicely counter-balanced by the sweet from the orgeat and lemon juice. The rye (and I'm using a nice overproof one) is almost lost in there, subdued by the twin clubs of the 1 oz of bitters and the lemon juice.

This is a lovely drink, but you need to be a fan of bitterness. If that's not your palette, if you can't stand Amari, if you like something that's more on the sweet side, this one is not for you. But if you want to try something that will kick you in the face and make you enjoy it, take a walk on the adventurous side and mix yourself up one of these babies.

Recipe

As mentioned in the Tradewinds Negroni post of last year, the dasher on the top of the bottle of Angostura bitters comes off fairly easily; it just takes a little work. Twist it and give it a pull and it should come loose.

Ingredients

3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Orgeat
1 oz Angostura Bitters
1/2 oz 100 Proof Rye (I used Pikesville, which is actually 110 proof.)

Directions

Combine everything into a cocktail shaker and add ice.
Shake until chilled, about 15 seconds
Double-strain into a cocktail coupe.
Enjoy while you wonder why you didn't buy the big bottle of Angostura Bitters the last time you went shopping...