I have been wanting to try the Opal for a little while, since I was interested in the idea of a drink that included orange juice, orange liqueur, and orange flower water, and because we have plenty of the latter left over from making grenadine. Additionally, it seemed a good drink for spring, which has definitively sprung here. Rather foolishly, I forged ahead with the drink even though I only had one orange and therefor could only get half as much juice as I needed. This is clearly the result of poor planning on my part. I decided to give it a try anyway and adjust as needed. Adjustment may have been needed anyhow, since I foolishly tried to dash a little orange flower water into the shaker from a bottle that has no restraint on the top. I could have measured it out, but no, I got a small splash of orange flower water instead, for not taking the trouble. I ended up adding more orange liqueur to help balance the drink, and brought it back up to a full 3 oz. I call the resulting drink a Fiery Opal, because, frankly, that sounds a lot better than "I totally messed up this drink, what was I thinking?"
The Opal:
1.5 oz Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Orange Liqueur
1/4 tsp Sugar
Small Dash Orange Flower Water
Shake ingredients over crushed ice and strain into a coupe.
Garnish with an orange of some sort.
The Fiery Opal:
1.5 oz Gin
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Orange Liqueur
Scant 1/4 tsp Sugar
Large Dash Orange Flower Water
Shake ingredients over crushed ice and strain into a coupe.
Garnish with an orange of some sort.
The verdict: At first, I thought it was just a little more flowery than I would have liked, but otherwise pretty decent. Scott was surprised by the floral quality before I told him the ingredients, but he thought it was pretty good. Over time, however, I found that the quantity of orange flower water made the drink unctuous in a way that I really couldn't handle. Scott was drinking his slower than I drank mine, but after a while he felt it had become overwhelmingly flowery. I cut mine with mead (we already had an open bottle of Bells Brewery mead) after having drunk a third of the drink, and I found that much better. Let's call that the Golden Fiery Opal.
The Golden Fiery Opal:
1 oz Gin
1 oz Mead
1/3 oz Orange Juice
2/3 Orange Liqueur
1/8 tsp Sugar
Small Dash Orange Flower Water
Shake ingredients over crushed ice and strain into a coupe.
Garnish with an orange of some sort.
This was a bit like a floral Mimosa, and seems like it would be best suited to a spring or summer outdoor brunch, with the sun shining down on ladies in wide-brimmed hats.
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