Sorry for the delay in posting. We didn't do the cocktail on Wednesday, as we were at a rehearsal dinner that night. We ended up postponing it to Friday, then, as I was writing the post, my power cord was nocked out of my computer, and I couldn't reboot despite trying to reboot from the backup drive and the OS CD. I didn't touch it Saturday or Sunday thanks to the wedding and the fact that we spent Sunday just hanging out and enjoying each other's company Suddenly, this morning, it worked fine.
On Saturday before last, we picked up a bottle of St. Germain while we were in Ann Arbor for the Scottish Dance Ball. We happened upon a liqueur store with a huge selection and gourmet catering when we were looking for a little snack to make up for all the dancing as well as walking we did at the walk-through before the dance, and we chose to try something one new bottle that I've seen in recipes a lot. It turned out that it was lucky I picked St. Germain, as there has apparently been some issues getting it in Michigan lately, and we happened to be at one of the places that managed to get their hands on it.
St. Germain is an elderflower liqueur. This flavor was an entirely new thing for us. I don't believe I've ever even tried elderberries. It does make me think of that insult from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "You mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries." I had hear that the elderberries part referred to alcohol. The elderflower liqueur is sweet and floral, not the sort of thing I would associate with heavy drinking. On the other hand, the more I sipped, the more sippable it became.
We tried Bitter Bossom, which is a sort of a twist on a Manhattan.
Bitter Blossom
1 oz Sweet vermouth
1 oz Rye
1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur, St. Germain
3 ds Orange bitters
Stir with ice and strain.
The verdict: As I recall, it was a lovely floral, rather different from the last time we tried something floral. Both Scott and I enjoyed it. The St. Germain is nicely warmed and spiced by the rye, and the sweetness is brought down. Still, the St. Germain dominates. I also like to try the idea suggested by some of the comments on the recipe to add another 1/2 oz of rye.
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