"Longtime lurker, first-time poster." My wife and I were at The Gage in Chicago on Saturday night, and I ordered a drink they've dubbed, "Greely's Feast" -- after Adolphus Greely. The menu lists Laird's Applejack (no proof specified), Punt e Mes, Luxardo Amaro Abano, and chocolate bitters as the ingredients. No proportions included, of course, and though I suppose I could ask for what they use, that's sort of beside the point, because: It seems (to me, at least) as if this should be a good drink, but it was... flat. Not out of balance, precisely, just not very interesting. Which surprised me, because I'd expected it to be more than ho-hum. I'm still training my palate and learning how different ingredients work together, and I thought I'd reach out to the brilliant folks here for thoughts on how to deconstruct and reconstruct this drink. Any ideas? (It also occurred to me that maybe other people here would have similar questions about other drinks, and this thread might be a useful place to raise them -- though if there's already a thread dedicated to this sort of thing, please let me know; I didn't find one after a bit of searching, though there are at least a couple similar threads that seem dedicated to recreating drinks from The Violet Hour.) Cheers!
