Persephone
COCKTAIL INGREDIENTS:
- 30 ml Applejack
- 22,5 ml Sweet Vermouth
- 15 ml Sloe Gin
- 15 ml Fresh Lemon Juice
- 15 ml Simple Syrup
GARNISH:
- Lemon Twist
- Dried Rosebud
INSTRUCTIONS:
• Combine all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker.
• Add ice and shake until chilled.
• Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
• Garnish with a skewered lemon twist rose and a dried rosebud.
Cocktail author: David Slape of PDT. (Cocktail appears in The PDT Cocktail Book.)
Persephone is a fruity creation of David Slape, combining some of the tastiest fruity spirits available.
At first, looking at the list of ingredients I was a little bit concerned that it might be too sweet. However, my concerns were proven wrong by the very first sip. A touch of lemon juice together with a slight tartness of sloe gin worked wonderfully when balancing the sweetness of simple syrup and applejack.
Persephone is a distinctively fruity cocktail, where apples and sloes provide the most flavour, supported by lemon and sweet herbal, almost fruity, notes of sweet vermouth, lingering in the background.
I did veer off the original recipe, by shaking the cocktail instead of stirring, because I really believe it benefits from a little bit of aeration and that velvet like texture.
I must say, it was a pleasant surprise. A fantastically comforting cocktail this cold time of the year.