Ojen Cocktail

Last night, I was thumbing through one of my copies of Patrick Gavin Duffy's "The Standard Bartenders Guide" when I came across an entry for the Ojen Cocktail. Intrigued, and never having heard of Ojen before, I started poking around the internet to find out more about Ojen. Ojen is an anise liqueur from a mountainous region of Spain. Lacking a true bottle of Ojen, but having a bottle of anis escarchado from neighboring Portugal in my liquor cabinet, I attempted to recreate this cocktail. Its a lovely shade of pink, and definitely has a pronounced anise flavor, but the Peychauds bitters add some interesting notes on the finish of this cocktail. I wouldn't drink this regularly, but it was a nice change and I always enjoy something a little different.

1 drink Ojen (I used 3 oz of anis escarchado in its place)
2 dashes of Peychauds bitters

Shake well with cracked ice and strain

Experimentation and the Myrmidon Cocktail

So the tastebuds are still a bit off, but I'm starting to feel a little better thanks to my self prescribed regimine of Mexican antibiotics. Last night, I was running through Wild Oats after walking my dog, when I came across Dry Soda. I've had Dry Soda before, the lavender flavor was interesting but it didn't change my life or even inspire me to look for more Dry Soda. This time though, I spotted Kumquat soda (kumquats being one of my better half's preferred fruits) and so I picked up a 4 pack for a little experimentation.
I've still got a bottle of Absolut Mandarin in the house after buying it for the VitaminWater contest, and to be honest, I don't really care for flavored vodkas. I made a cocktail for my wife of 2 oz Absolut Mandarin, 4 oz Kumquat Soda, 4 dashes of Regans Orange Bitters and an orange twist. Somehow, I seemed to have created the liquid version of an orange tic tac. Yuck, it was cloyingly sweet, unbalanced and just plain one dimensional. My wife hated it, so I added a shot of Aperol and it made a terrible mistake somewhat palatable. I did notice she didn't ask for me for seconds.
When it was my turn to pour myself a drink, I turned to the liquor cabinet and grabbed my new bottle of Bluecoat Gin. I essentially made the same drink, substituting the Bluecoat for the Absolut Mandarin and what a difference it made. What had been cloying and sweet now had depth and some nice structure. Pushing the envelope a little more, I floated a little anis escharchado on top and I had my drink for the night. I'll call this one the Myrmidon.

Myrmidon Cocktail
2 oz (or more) Bluecoat Gin
4 oz Kumquat Dry Soda
4 dashes Regans Orange Bitters
1 orange twist
float anis escarchado

Build over the rocks in a bucket, add twist and get twisted.