Tweaking the Blackthorn. . .
The Blackthorn cocktail is one of my favorites, a gin base with a generous splash of both Dubonnet and kirsch. Dubonnet and gin appear together in all sorts of early 20th Century drinks. In the Blackthorn the Kirsch adds an extra dimension to a well worn combination. The drink is intensely fruity, but the use of eau de vie rather than a liqueur keeps things at the dry and bracing end of the spectrum.
I am surprised this drink is not better known. Part of the reason may be confusion about recipes. CocktailDB (www.cocktaildb.com) lists six recipes for the Blackthorn and its variations. Only one recipe is for the gin, Dubonnet and kirsch drink that I am fan of. A further four of the recipes are mixtures of sloe gin, vermouth (usually sweet but sometimes dry) and bitters - in one case with a little straight gin added for some extra kick. While different, the above five recipes at least share in common the use of gin, berry flavored spirits/liqueurs, and herbal aperitif wines. The sixth and final recipe is a whiskey, vermouth, pastis and bitters drink that seems to have no connection with the others besides name.
I have no idea where the above recipes were sourced from or the dates of their first appearance in recipe books. However, given that there are four recipes for variations on the sloe gin Blackthorn and only one recipe for the Dubonnet and Kirsch Blackthorn, it seems likely that the sloe gin Blackthorn may be the original, or at least the version that enjoyed greatest popularity.
I first came across the Dubonnet and kirsch version, during a search for Dubonnet and gin drinks. However, having picked up a bottle of sloe gin the other day I thought I would give sloe gin version a try to compare it. I had actually made it before, but since I cheated by substituting a mixture of sloe vodka and standard gin for the sloe gin I guess my earlier attempt doesn’t count.
I chose the most basic looking Sloe Gin Blackthorn recipe from CocktailDB, as follows:
2 parts Sloe Gin (I used Gordons)
1 part Italian Vermouth (I used Martini)
1 dash orange bitters (Regans)
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with squeeze of lemon peel.
Hmm. . . It’s not bad compared to some other liqueur and vermouth heavy concoctions from older cocktail recipes. The sloe gin and vermouth both have a little bitterness, saving the drink from tasting overly sweet despite being a bit of a sugar bomb. The orange bitters don’t make an obvious appearance, though perhaps their absence would be noticeable.
I plan to try one of the more gin heavy or dry vermouth oriented sloe gin Blackthorn variations to see if I prefer it, but I wouldn’t go too far out of my way to this particular drink again.
Then I tried the Dubonnet and kirsch Blackthorn again for comparison. You do owe it to yourself to try one, as follows:
1.5 oz gin (I used Tanqueray)
0.5 oz Dubonnet
0.5 oz kirsch (I used Arthur Metz)
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
This was much better than the first drink, but not quite as brilliant as I remembered. While nice the parts somehow seemed not to be working together as well as they could. I put this down to the brand of kirsh, and perhaps the gin. Previously I’d always made it with Dolfi kirsh and a higher proof gin.
All criticism aside though this drink is a great example of what eau de vie can do in a cocktail. I don’t know why you don’t see eau de vie used more often in mixed drinks. Cherry, apricot and pear are all very handy eau de vie for cocktail making. In fact, if you happen to have apricot or mirabele on hand, but no kirsch, you will find they make a nice substitute for the kirsch in a Blackthorn. No harm experimenting to see if other fruits also work.
Returning to the drink though, I decided a dash of bitters could held bring things together. I thus tried some variations of the Blackthorn over the next few days, adding Fees Brothers Aromatic, Peychauds, and Regans Orange bitters – two dashes in each case. This probably sounds silly, but each time I found the bitters surprisingly assertive. I should really have gone lighter and added just a dash. The Fees Brothers worked nicely in a spicy kind of way, though it took attention away from the eau de vie and focused it more on the aromatics in the Dubonnet. It was nice but perhaps seemed too much of a departure from the spirit of the original. The Peychaud’s version was very interesting but the anise flavors distracted from the fruitiness in the drink. Still, this may work with a smaller dose of bitters. The orange bitters probably turned out to be the best option in that they helped integrate the drink a little while leaving the flavors intact. I tried again with the less intense Fees Brothers orange bitters (three drops) and found that turned out perhaps the best among all my attempts. Regans might be equally good in a smaller quantity – two dashes may have been too much. Whatever bitters you use it is important to go light.
