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2 oz Bols Genever
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1 oz Benedictine For my second drink, I asked bartender Naomi Levy to make me one of the other new drinks on the menu, the Houdini. Naomi described the drink as one of Kevin Martin's concoctions and compared it to the Ford Cocktail. Later, Kevin explained that he was surprised that there was not to his knowledge a drink called the Houdini already and that the name added an air of mystery to the drink. The Houdini's aroma was malty and lemony from the Genever and the twist, and similar malt and citrus notes continued in the sip from the Bols and Cocchi Americano. The swallow was an intriguing combination of the Benedictine and Bols Genever botanicals which produced an almost chocolate note.
posted by frederic at 4:35 PM ingredients: #eastern standard, benedictine, genever, lillet


Sunny&Rummy said...

I have never had a chance to try Cocchi Americano but I have read that it is the probably the closest modern equivalent to what Kina Lillet would have tasted like. Does the Cocchi Americano have quinine in it like Kina Lillet did?

May 4, 2011 at 3:32 PM frederic said...

I believe that modern day Lillet has quinine but not to the same level as Kina Lillet did. I know that the Lillet rep denied that they had changed their formulation at all (this was on Chowhound), but when I asked what she thought of her company's website that lists the time line of Lillet formulation changes over the decades, she had no answer or reply. She was basing it on tasting decades old bottles and claiming it was the same. I saw at Tales that she's going to be talking about how the company only misinformed people that things had changed and they hadn't.

Generally in cocktails Lillet and Cocchi are interchangeable. Not the same exact flavor but more similar that say Dolin and Noilly Prat dry vermouths. Plus, Cocchi is cheaper and tastier straight out of the bottle than Lillet. Lillet does have better labels though.

May 4, 2011 at 4:18 PM