dandelion

Ingredients:

2 oz Vya Extra Dry vermouth

3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1/4 oz Green Chartreuse

1/3 oz Malört

Orange Twist

Instructions:

Add the Vya Extra Dry (or other extra dry vermouth), yellow and green chartreuse and Malort to a chilled mixing glass. Add ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the orange twist.

Notes:

Fresh citrus, honey, and grass on the nose. This one is a little lighter than its inspiration, Chrysanthemum, with accents of herbs, honey citrus, anise and a touch of bitterness. The finish is light and smooth. Dandelion has a nice consistent sweetness, but is overall a bit less sweet than Chrysanthemum.

History:

This is a variation I came up with of the classic cocktail Chrysanthemum for a post over at Serious Eats. In case you don’t feel like clicking over to that post, Chrysanthemum is traditionally made with dry vermouth, Benedictine and absinthe. If you haven’t tried it, definitely give it a go sometime. If you have, you know that it’s a pretty unique lighter cocktail, without a traditional base spirit like whiskey or gin.

I wanted to keep the light flavor that dry vermouth brings to the original but move away from the absinthe and Benedictine. I chose Malort to sub in for the absinthe. If you haven’t had it, Malort is a bit like the love child of absinthe and an amaro, with more bitter and herbal flavors. In large doses, it’s definitely an acquired taste, but mixing with small amounts of a powerfully flavorful ingredient is fun (just don’t get too carried away).

As for what to use in place of Benedictine, Strega seemed like a good choice, but it ended up a bit too sweet and I just couldn’t quite get the flavors to work out. Green Chartreuse missed the mark a bit too, as did Yellow Chartreuse, but the combination was actually quite tasty. The higher ratio of the lighter yellow version brings in notes of honey and herbs, similar to Strega but less saffrony (is that a word?). The burly Green chartreuse ups a more robust herbal and anise flavor to the mix.

In the end I swapped out my usually dry vermouth (Dolin) for Vya’s Extra Dry, which as you might guess is a little… drier. Vya also packs some stronger vegetal flavors than Dolin, which worked well in this herbaceous mix.

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