Drew has a tendency to store up random bits of trivia much like squirrels stowing away nuts for the coming winter. Kate has chosen to find it charming. In researching the Twelve Days of Christmas, he latched on to a few "interesting" bits of knowlege. Relevant to today's cocktail, eight maids a-milking, is the phrase "smooth as a milk maid's skin." Prior to vaccines, the general public often had pock marked skin while milk maid's skin frequently remained unblemished. This is due to the maids being exposed to the cow pox virus. Similar to chicken pox, cow pox doesn't leave the typical pock marks on the skin but does offer some immunity to other pock producing viruses. Thus, smooth skin! Fascinating...well, ok...not really, but you just learned something and by now you're thirsty. (Kate's note - ewww)
For today's cocktail, we knew we wanted to make something creamy but not necessarily use milk or ice cream. Kate had recently seen this recipe from Lauren Mote for a "Chartreuse Milkshake" that she thought was nifty. We modded it into a flip; using the full egg in the cocktail makes it extra rich and velvety.
Eight Maids a-Milking Cocktail
- 2 parts gin (we used Wallflower gin)
- 1 part creme de cacao
- 1 part green chartreuse
- 1/2 part orange juice
- 1/2 part lime juice
- 1/4 part simple syrup
- 1 egg
- Fee Brother's Black Walnut bitters
- martini glass
Combine all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and dry shake it for at least 20 seconds. Add ice and shake until cold. Double strain into a martini glass and top with grated zest and chocolate shavings.
Cocktail Notes
As mentioned above, this drink is a slight riff on a drink by Vancouver bartender and bitter maker, Lauren Mote. We put in a full egg to up the richness and creaminess and added the black walnut bitters to enhance the chartreuse notes.
DELICIOUS.
Posted by: marni | 02 January 2016 at 05:17 PM