Pineau Experiment No. 6 was perhaps the best of the bunch. . .

The next step was to try mixing some drinks of my own using Pineau des Charentes.

Pineau turned out to slightly awkward stuff to mix with, probably on account of it having such a mild taste. My natural inclination was try substituting pineau in recipes that traditionally call for other aperitif wines (i.e. following well worn patterns like Manhattans and Martinis). This approach did not work well.

While I did not come up with anything truly exceptional, several experiments yielded one or two promising results.

Not following any particular plan, I tried the following.

Experiment #1

2 oz bourbon (Bulleit)

1 oz pineau

½ oz suze

1 tsp lemon added afterwards.

This was not a success. First, there was way too much bourbon. Second, I do not think bourbon and pineau are a good match. A spicier bourbon might be an improvement, but rye would be better still, and definitely in a smaller quantity. Calvados might also be interesting. Again a teaspoon of lemon juice proved an easy way of brightening it up a little. The Suze added a little interest but also did not really fit.

Experiment #2

1 ½ oz pineau

1 ½ oz pisco

½ oz lemon juice

¼ oz Cynar

I figured I would try something using pisco, loosely based on the rhum agricole Pompadour, with the addition of ¼ oz of Cynar to give a bitter and complex finish. While I enjoyed this it did not compare with the Pompadour. The Cynar could be toned down and still do its thing. A teaspoon may be adequate.

Experiment #3

2 oz Pineau des Charentes

1 oz pisco (or calvados)

1 oz fresh pineapple juice

2 dashes peach bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

On first taste this seemed almost too smooth and refreshing – like one of those vodka cocktails. I was not sure it worked. Despite an interesting list of ingredients it tasted boring. I made it again using Calvados instead of pisco, hoping for a better result. The Calvados version did not really work either.

Experiment #4

1 oz pineau

1 oz Cruzan Estate Light Rum

1 drop (not dash) Angostura

½ tsp Kummel

This was good, making a very smooth rum drink that reminded me a little of the El Presidente on account of its soft profile fringed with herbal flavors. It needs to be reworked, but is a decent start. This one deserves repeating.

Experiment #5

1 oz pineau

1 oz rye (Pikesville)

1 drop angostura

2 drops peychauds

This drink pretty much built on my experiences from Experiment #1. It is tasty enough but perhaps a bit mild and uninteresting. A bigger, spicier rye might have helped it.

Experiment #6

2 oz pineau

1 oz dry apricot brandy (i.e. a eau de vie, not a liqueur)

½ oz lemon juice

1 tsp creme de framboise

Tasty. . . The honey taste in the pineau plays nicely with the apricots. The lemon juice and eau de vie keep things dry. The creme de framboise adds some sugar to round things out, plus an extra layer of fruit flavor that contributes to an overall impression of fruity complexity.

Experiment #7

2 oz pisco

1 oz Pineau des Charentes

Dash of Orange Bitters

This was pleasant but unexciting.

I was probably expecting better results from messing around with Pineau. The first drink I tried with the stuff, the Pompadour, set the bar quite high. None of my own efforts came close.

Still, I think experiments #4 and #6 have potential. Experiment #6 was quite good, and Experiment #4 hints at a whole world of possibilities using pineau with rum and small doses of liqueurs or bitters. In general, Pineau seems to work well in drinks that are light on the spirits. Small touches of liqueurs also work nicely.

I would like to do more experimenting using Pineau and rums. There seems to be lots of potential there. It might also be interesting to mix Pineau with aromatized aperitif wines, something I did not try.

So that is it. While my experiments were not completely successful I think I showed there are promising possibilities for using Pineau in cocktails. Pineau des Charentes might not be as versatile as vermouth but it is still underrated as a cocktail ingredient. Used in the right way Pineau can make good drinks.

There are a few different recipes around for this one. I didn’t go with the recipe on the side of the Peach Bitters bottle because it called for sour mix. Who wants to use sour mix when you could be using fresh juice? Instead I got one from CocktailDB.

1 ½ oz gin (Tanqueray)

½ oz crème de menthe (Marie Brizard)

½ oz kummel (Wolfschmidt)

½ oz lemon juice

4 dashes peach bitters (Fees – it’s a light tasting product, so I used several big shakes that probably added up to about a teaspoon).

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The verdict? Lets start with the appearance. A green drink is always a bit of fun. When I about six years old I remember thinking green drinks in small glasses looked very grown up and exotic. I had a lot to learn. Mind you, even at a young age my taste in green drinks was impeccable. My first experience with a green drink would have been aged around 2 years old (probably even younger) when I somehow disposed of a bottle of green Chartreuse. My parents allegedly found me asleep with the empty bottle. The feat still impresses me. Probably I didn’t really drink the stuff. Maybe I tipped it down a drain or something. Tipping away perfectly good Chartreuse seems uncharacteristic of me though, while having drunk a bottle of Chartreuse as a baby could possibly explain a few things. Anyway the Green Dragon gets points for being green. Cool.

On to the taste. . . There is a surprisingly strong aroma of peaches from the bitters. I was surprised that aroma came through the mint so clearly. On actually tasting, the main impression, as with so many crème de menthe drinks, is of toothpaste. In this case the toothpaste sensation is heightened by the lemon juice. Now just so everyone is clear exactly what I mean here, I am not talking about the simple mint taste possessed by toothpaste in its natural, freshly squeezed, state. Rather I mean the slightly mixed up mint flavor you get halfway through brushing, after the toothpaste has got a chance to get to know whatever it is supposed to be cleaning off your teeth. That description doesn’t sound promising, but fortunately it is not the full story. Some interest is provided by a big caraway aftertaste, plus a hint of fruit from the bitters. The gin is there too, but doesn’t jump out at you like the other ingredients. It all makes for an unusual experience. Incidentally, in the dust up between creme de menthe and kummel it is the creme de menthe that cleans up. The Kummel is more an undercurrent.  Perhaps it makes you wonder if somebody switched your regular toothpaste for some exotic Eastern European brand with a caraway flavor.

Why this drink is on the side of the peach bitters bottle I really have no idea. Who imagined this drink was going to help sell peach bitters? The name is cool enough. Plus I suppose the oddness of the thing demonstrates that peach bitters are highly versatile. Having drunk this you will realize that peach bitters have a myriad of uses, not all of which are advisable. The mere fact that the peach bitters shine through such a bizarre concoction is in itself also something of a recommendation I guess. But who is this thing supposed to appeal to? I am pretty open minded when it comes to drinks and I just don’t get it. It is simply odd. I think I’d rather have a simple Gin Stinger (i.e. gin and creme de menthe). Or maybe even a Gin Stinger with a dash of kummel? Come to think of it that idea just may be a worthy variation on the gin stinger theme. Once again could it be the lemon juice that is messing the drink up for me?

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 20^th 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 the 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. 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 might help bring things together.  To test this 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. 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, but took attention away from the eau de vie and focused it more on the aromatics in the Dubonnet. Nice, but perhaps 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.