Drew and I are a nerdy pair. When we were researching the twelve days of Christmas (the lyrics of the carol, the various feast days, etc.) we came across a lot of interesting (and historically questionable) tidbits. But one of my absolute favourite things is the lyric comparison chart in Wikipedia. I always figured that "gold rings" vs "golden rings" was the most contentious lyric. Not so. Apparently, it is the one from today, Day 4. The original 1790 version of this carol listed the Day 4 gift as "4 Colly Birds". Colly is, it seems, an English regional colloquialism for black. So these should be four black birds. (Sidenote: there are also lyric variants of Canary, Colour'd, and Calling ... so black may not be definitive, but that's what we're going with for this cocktail).
Upon reading this, I immediately thought "Black Russian" (possibly because I don't always have a lot of imagination). But then I remembered the challenge my wife, Rose, gave us at the outset, "Why don't you guys try using up some of the liquors you have before buying a bunch of new ones." Indeed. Here was the perfect opportunity to try to use some Root. Root is this very interesting spirit that calls up notes of sassafras, birch bark and, well, root beer. As you can imagine, it's tricky in a cocktail. This seemed like a fun one to try.
Four Calling Birds Cocktail
- 1 part vodka
- 1/2 part kahlua
- 1/2 part Root
- bar spoon creme de cacao
- bar spoon Fernet Branca
- few dashes General Ambrose Bitters
Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour over ice in a rocks glass. Serve.
Cocktail Notes
- The Fernet Branca really makes this. It takes that last edge of sweet off of everything and makes this a nice, grownup drink.
- We also tried Whiskey Bitters. They brought up a wintergreen flavour which was tasty, but not what we were going for here.
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