I've become more and more averse to sweet things (I'm a grumpy old man, I suppose...) in cocktails, and I've recently fallen in love with eau de vies - they can add a dizzying amount of fruit aroma to a cocktail without adding any sweetness. For example, I tried an eau de vie variant of a daiquiri:
1 1/2 oz rum
1/2 oz raspberry eau de vie (st. george is nice, massenez' framboise sauvage is incredible)
1/2 oz lime
1/2 oz raspberry shrub (i did 2:1:1 raspberries:sugar:champagne vinegar)
1/4 oz Giffard creme de framboise
...somehow it tastes more like raspberries than raspberries!
Does anyone play around with eau de vies (the standards - poire williams, blume marillien, mirabelle - or the crazies - rowanberry, woodruff, sloe, etc.) in cocktails? What are your favorite recipes?
