The Alchemist’s Notebook

This is the fourth drink in The Alchemist’s Notebook, a series of original drink recipes. I post a new recipe every full moon.

Strega takes to the sky on a broomstick of juniper, elevated by the sultry perfume of black locust blossoms wafting up on the breeze, while the air below is filled with the scents of fresh strawberries and oranges. 

[Name this drink!] Witches Revery? (Witches Flight is taken) 
Thorny Witch 

1.5 oz           gin 
1.0 oz           Strega 
 .5 oz           black locust 
 .5 oz           strawberry simple syrup* 
 .125 oz         orange bitters 
garnish          orange wheel 

*strawberry simple syrup recipe: 

Combine a handful of strawberries with equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, let cool, strain. 

Strega, Italian for witch, is an herbal liqueur from the ancient town of Benevento in northern Italy. Legends of witchcraft in the area date at least to the 13th century, and inspired the blend of herbs in this complex liqueur. Often proposed as an alternative to yellow Chartreuse, Strega nonetheless stands on its own merits as a fine and unique liqueur which is delightful alone and plays well with others.

Black Locust liqueur is an original invention and eventually I will supply a recipe for this bottle in case you would like to make your own. In the interim, any floral liqueur is worth trying as a substitute: crême de violette, elder flower, rose, lavender, chamomile, etc.

This is the third drink in The Alchemist’s Notebook, a series of original drink recipes. I post a new recipe every full moon.

The lively complexity of The Botanist, a modern dry gin with foraged herbal notes, sets a complex tone for this drink, while green Chartreuse provides high Alpine harmony. Atop this brilliant herbal foundation, the velvety rich bitterness of persimmon dances with the decadence of black cherry and almost hides the subtle, surreptitious challenge from Fernet's mysterious bitterness. 

The Bartender's Daughter 

1.5 oz          The Botanist Islay dry gin
 .5 oz          green Chartreuse 
 .5 oz          persimmon liqueur 
 .5 oz          black cherry simple syrup* 
 .125 oz        Fernet-Branca 
garnish         maraschino cherry 

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain, garnish, and serve in a chilled coupe glass. 

*black cherry simple syrup recipe: 

Combine a handful of black cherries (pitted) with equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, let cool, strain. 

This is the second drink in The Alchemist’s Notebook, a series of original drink recipes. I post a new recipe every full moon.

Brandy in this drink is the warmth of a summer evening, refreshed by the bright bitterness of dry curaçao, while the complex herbal notes of génépi and spicebush float in on the cool breeze of floral elegance that is crême de violette.

An Evening in June 

1.5 oz          brandy 
.75 oz          dry curaçao 
.5  oz          crême de violette 
.25 oz          génépi 
.5  oz          spicebush simple syrup*  
garnish         maraschino cherry 

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain, serve in a coupe glass. 

* spicebush simple syrup (and alternative) 

To make spicebush simple syrup, first collect spicebush. Of the spicebush leaf, twig, flower, green and ripe fruit, each is an individual expression of the plant's range of flavor. Any or all of these will produce a fine simple syrup. The twigs are the mildest option, the berries the strongest. Combine a handful of spicebush (to taste) with equal parts sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, let cool, strain.

If you are not in a position to forage for spicebush where you live, allspice is a close alternative.

This is the first drink in The Alchemist’s Notebook, a series of original drink recipes. I publish a new recipe every full moon. If you would like to know more about the origin of these drinks, please read on past the recipe below.

Taming the Beastie has a beautiful, subtle appearance: a grey, green color, with a bit of cherry red. The Crême de Violette does most of the taming, while the added sweet of the spicebush and its complexity with that of the Génépy bring the drink to coherence and round out the flavor. 

Taming the Beastie 

1.5   oz           Ardbeg Wee Beastie 
 .5   oz           crême de violette 
 .5   oz           spicebush simple syrup* 
 .125 oz           Génépy
garnish            Luxardo maraschino cherry 

Build on ice in a rocks glass, stir, garnish, serve. 

* Spicebush simple syrup (and alternative) 

To make spicebush simple syrup, first collect spicebush. Of the spicebush leaf, twig, flower, green and ripe fruit, each is an individual expression of the plant's range of flavor. Any or all of these will produce a fine simple syrup. The twigs are the mildest option, the berries the strongest. Combine a handful of spicebush (to taste) with equal parts sugar and water in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, let cool, strain.

If you are not in a position to forage for spicebush where you live, allspice is a close alternative.

About the Drink

I think it’s fair to say that most cocktails which feature Scotch tend to prescribe a blended Scotch for the purpose. Certainly with the drink known as the Godfather this tends to be the case. That elegant recipe calls for some proportion of Scotch to amaretto liqueur, served on the rocks.

While I appreciate a good blended Scotch, I for one enjoy the challenge of finding a place for a flavorful single malt within a mixed drink. Taming the Beastie is ultimately a riff on the Godfather, with a wonderful single malt, a substitution for the amaretto, and a couple splashes of additional herbal notes to round it all out.

Wee Beastie is a heavily peated single malt from Ardbeg distillery on the Isle of Islay. Aged for only 5 years, it has a youthful vigor that stands in contrast to smoother, older bottles from the same region.

The Beastie sips very well neat, and I believe this drink is a demonstration of its potential to play an integral part in a carefully considered cocktail. As with every other ingredient, please feel free to substitute what you may prefer.

Rothman & Winter’s Crême de Violette is a fine, subtle bottle of a viscous liqueur in a beautiful hue. The “crême” is a reference to the high sugar content, not the presence of dairy. In this drink it takes the place of the amaretto as the primary sweet component of the drink.

Spicebush simple syrup is added for the cohering power of its sugar content, as well as for a wilder herbal touch, further complemented by the alpine herbal Génépy, an artemisia based distillation. While Génépy is often recommended as a substitution for the recently rare Chartreuse Green, it is a compelling and versatile bottle in its own right.

For the garnish, a Luxardo maraschino cherry is specifically indicated, as all other brands of preserved maraschino cherries for garnish are not only inferior, they may as well represent a different product. If you can spring for this brand, you will be rewarded by the quality of the product as a component of the drink. If Luxardo is not an option for you, you might try a few dried tart cherries instead, or any other garnish that strikes your fancy.

About the Drinks

Most every evening I create an original drink to share with my partner. We have apparently been enjoying this tradition for a couple of years now, as my record of recipes extends back at least to May 2024.

Having never mixed anything more than a gin and tonic or martini before, I have been on a journey to become adept at creating cocktails. I continue to learn how flavors play together, how different types of liqueurs interact, and how to get better at reliably making drinks my partner and I like.

Over the past couple years I have explored spirits and a wide range of liqueurs, finding my way by improvisation. I have also learned a great deal from mixing the few dozen drinks I have made from recipes.

I have found my way by trial and error with occasional detours to explore particular drinks that provide useful structures which make riffing a joy. In addition to the Godfather, the Martini, Negroni, and Last Word each provide a simple structure with incredible range for substitutions.

I look forward to writing in greater depth about what I have learned; for now I will be sharing recipes with minimal commentary, this edition notwithstanding…

Homemade Liqueurs

Around the same time I started making these drinks, we started foraging for liqueur ingredients in order to begin stocking the bar with our own creations.

While all the spirits are necessarily proprietary, it has come to be a rare occasion when I buy a liqueur for the bar, as I have transitioned over the past year to a bar stocked with only our own liqueurs.

In the beginning, most of the recipes I share will be made exclusively from proprietary bottles, so you should be able to obtain the necessary ingredients by purchase, should you wish to try one on for size. Where there are homemade simple syrups involved, I will provide a recipe.

Over time, more and more of the drinks will include homemade liqueurs. As this happens I will begin posting both suggestions for proprietary substitutions and recipes for making these liqueurs yourself.

In the interim – and always – I encourage you to use your own judgment and knowledge of your own tastes to good effect when making any of these drinks. Substitute freely, and riff on.

This practice brings me immense joy, no doubt in part from the opportunity to indulge in playful curiosity as a guiding principle in my process. I also benefit enormously from this practice as a ritual. The exquisite attention my partner and I pay to the experience of the drink is a relaxing way to connect at the end of each day.

[Note: The links I provide in this blog are to sites with which I have no affiliation, and from which I receive no remuneration. I share them for the sake of information, and/or the value they have provided me, in the hope they might also benefit you.]