Last night's drink was the James Joyce. The cocktail is, as you might imagine, an Irish whiskey based cocktail. Personally, thinking of the Irish author James Joyce makes me think of Finnegan's Wake. I've never read the book, but I do know the Irish street ballad that inspired it. In the ballad, when whiskey spills over Tim Finnegan's apparently dead corpse, he wakes up. The word whiskey comes from the Gaelic words for water of life, which James Joyce apparently found fascinating in the context of this ballad.
Of course, the cocktail isn't just a glass of whiskey. It's a sour, which appears at it's base in the Whiskey Sour, which is whiskey, citrus (lemon or lime) and sweetener. More specifically, the James Joyce is a New Orleans Sour, which means that the sweetener is an orange liqueur rather than something non-alcoholic, such as simple syrup or runny honey. We've already tried one, the Sidecar, and you're likely familiar with another, the Margarita.
The James Joyce:
1.5 oz Irish Whiskey
0.75 oz Sweet Vermouth
0.75 oz Orange Liqueur
0.50 oz Lime Juice
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass
Shake with ice and strain into a coupe
The verdict: We both liked this a lot. The vermouth presence was very low, and it took a back seat to the other flavors, but I do think it adds some depth of flavor. Since Scott's favorite two spirits are Irish Whiskey and Grand Marnier, this was a good combination for him. Also, the lime seems to be less acidic and more palatable for him. That makes this drink another good step in figuring out what will be more likely to work for us.
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