A Jigger of Blog

I was in New York City this past weekend and had a bit of time to kill on Friday night before meeting some friends at Jack the Horse in Brooklyn Heights. I was staying in SoHo, so I figured a quick stop at Pegu Club would be the right choice. And it was…I started with the eponymous cocktail, which was good as always, then moved on to what is probably my favorite cocktail, the Fifty-Fifty, which has a home on the Pegu Club’s menu these days. Afterwards I told the bartender, Dell, that I was leaning towards a Martinez to keep in my classic gin cocktail frame, but that I was open to anything else gin-based he wanted. He whipped up a drink that I’d never heard of before, but is an old classic in its own right: the Amber Dream Cocktail.

Amber Dream Cocktail

1.5 oz gin
.75 oz sweet vermouth
.25 oz Yellow Chartreuse
Dash aromatic bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

It has clear relationship with a Martinez, mixing gin and sweet vermouth, though the drink isn’t as driven by gin as the Old Tom-based classic. The presence of the Chartreuse added a great dimension – a little more spice and less richness than the maraschino brings to a Martinez. But the Amber Dream was a fantastic cocktail, one that I think will instantly go into my home rotation.