26 Apr The Jaguar Cocktail Recipe + Cask Aged Jaguar
The Jaguar Cocktail Recipe + Cask Aged Jaguar
A little while ago, we got ourselves a little 2L barrel to try out some cask aging. The general rules of cask aging are
- use young spirits, since they are more dramatically affected by a short time of barrel aging than something that’s already been aged for months or years,
- use fortified spirits, which also quickly change in flavor when in a barrel,
- choose drinks that consist of alcoholic ingredients only,
- taste once a week,
- remove from the barrel into a bottle sometime between 2 and 4 weeks after you first put it in, as soon as it tastes right to you.
Our first cask experiment was a very successful genever white Negroni. For our second barrel, we landed on the Jaguar, a creation of Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli at Eastern Standard, the best cocktail place within home run distance of Fenway Park. It doesn’t have any fortified wine, but otherwise suits the bill, and it features plenty of one of our favorite liqueurs, Chartreuse.
In its un-aged form, the Jaguar is three distinct waves of intense flavor: sweet herbs first, then bitter ones, then a peppery finish. After four weeks in a cask, it’s still just as flavorful, but smoother and more integrated, a mellower if still assertive combination of sweet, herbal, bitter, and peppery.
If you have a little barrel, try it both ways yourself.
Jaguar Cocktail Recipe
by Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli via Frederic Yarm’s Drink and Tell.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz silver tequila
- 3/4 oz green Chartreuse
- 3/4 oz amaro Ramazzotti (actually it’s supposed to be Amer Picon, but that’s not available in the US)
- 3 dashes orange bitters
- flamed orange twist for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all liquid ingredients in a mixing glass.
- Fill ice to the level of the liquid.
- Stir until the ice is noticeably melted.
- Strain into a cocktail glass.
- Garnish.
Cask-Aged Jaguar Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 750 ml bottle of silver tequila
- 1/2 bottle (about 1 1/2 cups) green Chartreuse
- 1/2 bottle amaro Ramazzotti
- 2 tsp orange bitters
Instructions
- Combine all the liquid ingredients in your own 2 L cask.
- Wait for about 4 weeks, tasting once per week.
- When it tastes good to you, remove from the barrel and save in a bottle.
- To serve, stir 3 oz of the cask-aged ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a flamed orange twist.
