This is my first post in participation with the Mixology Monday challenge, a “monthly online cocktail party.” Each month, bloggers and cocktail enthusiasts create cocktails around a theme — and this month’s theme, posted by Frederic, is mashups. He mentions a few mashups with the Widow’s Kiss, including the Widow’s Word, which combines the drink with perennial cocktail snob favorite, the Last Word.
I recently tasted my first Widow’s Kiss at Cambridge’s Brick and Mortar, and loved its fall flavors. It’s made with apple brandy, Chartreuse, and Benedictine, so it’s just the right combination of sweet, herbal and apple to make an autumn drink that’s not over the top.
My other favorite cocktail of the moment, the Colleen Bawn, shares the same liqueurs — it’s got the Chartreuse and Benedictine, but switches out the apple brandy for rye, and contains a whole egg. The end result is rich, creamy, and so satisfying on a crisp evening.
So, while I didn’t intend to create another mashup with the Widow’s Kiss, I found it fitting to mash it up with the Colleen Bawn.
Thus: I give you the Colleen’s Kiss. The Benedictine and Chartreuse that the two drinks share are combined with the egg and a touch of rye from the Colleen Bawn and Applejack from the Widow’s Kiss. The result is rich apple pie met with the herbal complexity of the Benedictine and Chartreuse. After making a first round with Applejack, I found it a bit too sweet and added in a touch of rye. I’d be curious to see if these proportions change if I get my hands on a bottle of Calvados to use instead.
colleen’s kiss
1 oz Laird’s Applejack
1/2 oz Bulleit rye
3/4 oz yellow chartreuse
3/4 oz Benedictine
1 egg
1 dash orange bitters
Cinnamon for garnish
Combine ingredients except cinnamon in shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds, until the shaker is frosted over. Strain and remove ice. Pour ingredients back into the shaker, and dry shake about 20 more seconds. Fine strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with cinnamon.
stirred 