THE SPIDER & THE BUTTERFLY | Improved Cocktail, Old-Fashioned, Sazerac-Style, Sidecars
“I didn’t create these drinks to be wasted like that.”
The third in my series of Improved Cocktail/Old Fashioned inspired TRIGUN cocktails, following the Life and Love and the NOMAN’S Eucharist
First, fill serving glass with ice* and add about .25-.33 fl oz of absinthe to glass. Then, in a mixing glass with ice, stir together
2 fl oz or 60ml Mezcal, preferably a Joven(unaged) one
.25 fl oz or 8ml Apple Schnapps or Liqueur (NOT Sour Apple Pucker)
1-2 barspoons of dark agave nectar
1 dash Angostura bitters
1/2 dropperful/1-2 dashes floral bitters of choice. I used the Burlesque bitters and Old Forester’s Hummingbird bitters but I think the apple blossom bitters from Hella would work great if I could uh find my bottle of it
1/2 dropperful of Bittermen’s Winter Melon Tart Bitters. You could also use a dash of vinegar, a citrate, or even a pinch of citric acid -- a very small pinch!
Meanwhile, the asbinthe rinsing your presentation glass will have begun to louche and turn cloudy from the ice melting. Anyway, you’re going to take a strainer that fits your glass rim, and strain that louched absinthe into a sidecar, like a shotglass or a glass used for drinking baijiu or vodka. Then dump out the ice and strain the cocktail into your serving glass. I’d go with a smaller glass than a double old fashioned/rocks glass if you have one. Express a lemon twist or garnish with a herb like basil, mint or sage. To consume, alternate between sipping the cocktail and the absinthe. I believe it’s Simon Difford who serves his Sazeracs with a sidecar of the absinthe used to rinse the glass.
This is a powerful drink to sip slowly, with patience. I’ve stayed mostly in a Southwestern motif for ingredients but Knives being Knives, what common people are limited to isn’t a limit here, and both the sharp, aggressive, occasionally gasoline-like qualities of many young mezcals suits his personality. The absinthe also speaks to his obsession -- and madness -- as well as the common depiction of absinthe as a “green fairy” with butterfly like wings, while the appearance of the agave plant and its many spines calls to mind the legs of a spider. The variety of plants and flavors involved in the combination of bitters make it remarkably balanced -- the Burlesque Bitters feature hibiscus, acai, and long pepper -- a distinct reddish motif -- and realizing I use them in this and Wolfwood’s drink, I think they’re somewhat representative of Vash.
And, the modifying liqueur here, well... read Trigun Maximum if you haven’t.
*Fun fact, before the invention of big freezer units we could store glassware in for service, this is how a bartender in a saloon in the 19th century would prepare a glass to provide a cold cocktail.