EvergreenDan

If you happen to have Clement Creole Shrubb, sub it for the triple sec, or add a dash or two of Angostura Orange bitters. If you happen to have Cocchi Americano or even Bonal Gentiane Quina, sub that for Lillet. That should give you some depth. I've tried the CCS + BGQ combo and loved it. Also a stand-up juniper-forward gin would help.

Katie Loeb subs B&B for Benedictine (when Benedictine is unavailable to her). If that's good enough for her, I bet it's good enough for the rest of us. Also, here is a chowhound benedictine thread about this. Fred Yarm's postings look tempting, as does the Frisco Sour would be easy to make (Rye, Benedictine, Lemon).

You said you have some St Germain. Try this after you get the Green Chartreuse: Elder Monk by Dan Chadwick, Kindred Cocktrails 1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain 1/2 oz Bénédictine 1/2 oz Green Chartreuse 1 oz Lemon juice 1 twst Lemon peel (as garnish) Shake, strain, rocks, low-ball Or this: Life Sentence by Brian Vollmer at Roast in Detroit. 2 oz Rye 1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain 1/2 oz Bénédictine 1/2 oz Lemon juice 4 ds Rhubarb bitters 1 ds Angostura bitters Shake, strain, serve straight up. Garnish with an orange peel I thought the 4 dashes of Fee Rhubarb bitters was 1-2 too many. If you don't have Rhubarb Bitters, I think orange bitters would be a good sub. There are a bunch of Benedictine recipes on Kindred Cocktails.

Last Word is excellent. Here are some apricot liqueur recipes.

Eh tu Brute?

Campari and a brown amaro (such as Ramazzotti or Averna, both of which are widely available) would be my choice if you like bitter and "interesting" flavors. I use at least 5x Campari than Chartreuse, Benedictine, and Heering combined. That said, if you don't care for bitter, then I think you have picked three good candidates. I'd buy a 375ml bottle of Green Chartreuse if price is an issue. Benedictine comes in 375ml as well. You can also do good things with a quality apricot liqueur (such as Winter and Rothman), but I'd put that behind Chartreuse and Benedictine. Re Vermouth: You may be able to find Martini & Rossi and Dolin in 375ml bottles. Keep them in the refrigerator and use a vac-u-vin to partially evacuate the bottle, slowing oxidation. I think that you'll find that sweet aromatized wines last a long time stored this way. I would not fear a bottle of Punt e Mes, Carpano Antica, Bonal Gentiane Quina, Cocchi Americano, etc. I rotate through these, enjoying them in turn. I also enjoy them on ice with a bit of citrus and sometimes soda water (if I'm trying to stretch the drink out a bit).

Yes, Pimm's is 50 proof, which isn't so high -- comparable to Campari for example. You'd add gin to Campari, right?

Call it Sticky w/ Kid?

There is a little more background here on the Bittermens ingredient page on Kindred Cocktails. A helpful tip: a "dash" of Bittermens bitters is about 1/4 of a full dropper, or about 15-18 drops. I too prefer the droppers; you dispense a consistent amount. So many times I've turned a dasher bottle over to dash out, say, 2 dashes and had a extra dash come out as I'm righting the bottle. Or you wonder if a dash is a big shake or a little shake. With some bitters, that extra dash makes a lot of difference to the flavor. As for Xocolatl, it means chocolate in the language of the Aztecs and is pronounced a lot like chocolate: sho-CO-la-toel

This is a Bittermens recipe. They were made under contract by The Bitter Truth before Bittermens started making them themselves here in the US. The The Bitter Truth forumla was adapted for production by TBT, a small departure from the "real" Bittermen's recipe. They could not make Bittermens original recipe in their facility. You purchased a bottle of old TBT inventory (which is fine). When that inventory is sold through, only the current Bittermen's will be available. The two versions are very similar. It is very powerful stuff. A few drops goes a long way. That "spendy" bottle will make tons of drinks. Great stuff. Considered by some to be a modern "essential" bitters. TBT has made a new chocolate bitters, which is presumably unrelated to the Bittermen's recipe that they made under contract. I have not tried it. I'm sure they made it to fill the hole in their product line when the stopped making the Bittermens version. Bittermens Xocalatl Mole Bitters The Bitter Truth Chocolate Bitters

How about simply using Lavender bitters. Scrappy makes them. I got a teeny bottle in a sampler set. Very lavender to me. I think you'd have to make rose bitters. And a floral gin would be a place to start. Hendricks, perhaps. If you find Hendricks lacking in juniper, perhaps you could infuse some juniper berries in either grain neutral spirits or Hendricks. I agree that if you are making a "real" Martini, you need to do it without sugar. A Martini is all about the bracing dry alcohol and complex botanicals, with a dose of wine and hint of bitter. If you are making a sweetened so-called Martini and you find it too sweet, then simply use less syrup or counter it with more acid (dry vermouth, citrus, citric acid, etc). You could also add vinegar to your syrup to make it into a shrubb. Shrubbs are usually fruit-based, but I don't see why you couldn't do it with a flower. And, last, I haven't tried it, but I can imagine that a pinch of dried lavender flowers (like you find in herbs de provence might work with a short steep in the cocktail.

To be honest, the first time I made it, I thought "Hmmm, I can't get my head around Caribbean rum and Italian amaro." The second time I made it, I loved it. Smith & Cross is a bit of an acquired tasted. My wife used to hate it, but now likes it just fine. It is sort of the Limburger of the rum world.

Yajna - May I suggest that if you enjoy creating your own cocktail recipes, that you start measuring as you make it. That way you can take notes about what you might do next time and can improve it with time. If you use loose measurements (such as half a lemon, which can vary quite it a bit in size and juiciness), then it's tough to refine the recipe.

Cocchi Vermouth di Torino and lemon. Damn that's good.

Here are 3 Luxardo Abano recipes. This caraway / black pepper thing seemed familiar. Amusingly, I guess I've already been there: Bad Seed by Dan Chadwick 3/4 oz Aquavit, Linie 3/4 oz Amaro, Luxardo Abano 3/4 oz Cynar 3/4 oz Lemon juice Shake (ok, stir if you want), strain, rocks

Brinza's Amaro Abano recipe got me thinking, so I tried equal parts high-rye bourbon (Finger Lakes Distilling) Cherry liqueur (Finger Lakes Distilling, but Heering would be fine) Amaro Abano Campari Lemon juice The Abano is very strong tasting. I tried it without the Campari, but it was too peppery, not bitter enough, and not enough body. With the Campari I thought it was quite good. Wife loved it. I want to try Brinza's recipe, but lacking Kummel, I guess I'll have to sub Aquavit.

The same question came up on KC. The suggestion was a high-proof bourbon like Booker's, Rowan's Creek, or Bakers. Personally, I sub'd Nux Alpina Nocino for the Alspice Dram and liked it. 3/4 oz of St Elizabeth Allspice Dram is a helluva lot. Lion's Tail by L. A. Clarke 2 oz Bourbon 3/4 oz Allspice Dram (or less) 1/2 oz Lime juice 1 t Simple syrup (or less) 2 ds Angostura bitters Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail glass My notes: Subbed Nux Alpina Nocino. Good, well-balanced. Nice citrus / spice notes.

ICE-O-MAT. You simply have to love that name. I presume F^ and C^ are Fine and Coarse? I wish the ice from the freezer was really crushed, rather than more like cracked. Plus I hate the sound expensive repair whenever I use it.

Sometime not long ago, deep inside the Waring Corporation: Marketeer: Hey, Martinis are in. Let's name this stupid unnecessary contraption -- the electric can opener of 2011 -- a "Martini Maker." Engineer: Um, you know that Martinis aren't supposed to be shaken, right? Marketeer: So? Engineer (to self): This job makes me dead inside.

OK. Group buy on Fernet hats.....

Yajna - Dry vermouth is not acidic enough to balance twice its volume of a sweet liqueur like St Germain, particularly one without any bitterness. If you find the flavors appealing, you might try inverting the ratio and maybe using an assertive bone dry vermouth like Sutton Cellars Brown Label or maybe Vya (which I haven't tasted in a while). In my mind, some nutty flavors would go well, too, so a bit of Fino sherry might work, no? I think there's a good idea here somewhere....

Thanks Toby. I updated the recipe on KC. I also didn't put you together with your eGullet screen name until now. Cool. (I also fixed my typo, although I like the concept of a "Fernet hatter" -- some guy who walks around with a Fernet hat.)

I agree with tanstaafl2 about measurements. I hate "top" and "splash". I realize these may be fine within a specific bar with given glassware, but I don't think it is a good way to communicate quantities to others. A French 75 is a different drink with 1 or 3 oz of sparkling wine. Did it take a 1/2oz squirt of soda to fill the glass, or 2 oz?

Kerry - Yes, cachaca has that funky rum taste that is often labelled hogo. This is shared by Rhum Agricole, which is also distilled from sugar cane juice, rather than molasses. First, an apology. The version of Comte de Sureau that I posted was actually a variation by Jeffrey Morgenthaller. Today I corrected the recipe and its attribution and added the original gin-based cocktail by Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro. I'm sorry for the confusion. Comte de Sureau is another of those spirit+liqueur drinks without acid. I haven't tried it yet, but my initial reaction was that it might need some lemon juice for my taste. In addition, I find Aperol to have an artificial orange flavor until it is combined with some acid and other flavors. Right from the bottle it is pretty unappealing to me. Yet I love it in cocktails. I see that you added Angostura Orange to it. Seems like a good idea. If you liked it great; if not maybe try 1/4 to 1/2 oz lemon juice? Comte de Sureau (Morgenthaller) by Jeffrey Morgenthaller, inspired by Gonçalo de Souza Monteiro 1 1/2 oz Cachaça, Boca Loca 3/4 oz Aperol 1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain 1 twst Lemon peel (large, expressed, as garnish) Stir, strain, straight up, coupe, express and drop Comte de Sureau by Gonçalo de Sousa Monteiro, The Traveling Mixologists, Germany 4 cl Gin 3 cl Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain 0.7 cl Campari 1 twst Orange peel (as garnish) Stir, straigh, straight up or on the rocks, garnish Phew. I hope I've got the record straight now.

"Honey, you want a little something else?" "Sure." Didn't measure, but roughly: 2 oz Cardamaro 1/2 oz kick-ass rye (McKenzie, Finger Lakes Distilling) 1/2 oz Fino sherry Nice flavor and acid balance. Cardamaro up front with enough rye flavor to come through and a bit of alcohol for backbone, bone dry sherry for acid and nut flavor. This is the first cocktail that I've made with McKenzie where its hyper-assertive flavor was a plus.