The Noble Experiment

After much tinkering over the past few weeks in preparation for an upcoming class, I stumbled upon a cocktail that has turned into a new favorite.

I was mixing up a few separate cocktails to present at an upcoming cocktail class. I mixed up an old-fashioned and a classic caipirnha. They’re both lovely cocktails, delicious in their own right. After sipping and thinking and sipping and thinking, I decided to mash them up together, which is a common practice in my household.

So I took two Luxardo Maraschino cherries,

replaced the orange with lime and added a touch more sugar than normal. Right off the bat we had a nice start.

Acid, sugar, color…it was looking good. To play off the flavors of the lime, I decided to use cachaca instead of bourbon.  I like the depth and lightness of cachaca over standard light rum, and bourbon is more of a fall liquor for me.  Finally, to give it the depth of a true Old Fashioned and to offset some of the sugars, I reached for the bitters. I started with classic Angostura, but in the end settled on Fee Brothers Old Fashioned Bitters.

The result was a classic mash-up.  A cachaca old-fashioned.  Or a cherry caipirinha with bitters.  Whatever you want to call it, it was a lovely concoction.  One that is perfect for the spring with a wintery richness from the cherries and a summery pepper-ness from the cachaca.  Check out the recipe below:

Cachaca Old Fashioned

2 Luxardo Maraschino Cherries

1/2 of a Lime, quartered

2 teaspoons sugar

2 oz cachaca

1 dash Fee Brothers Old Fashioned Bitters

Take the cherries, lime pieces and sugar and muddle them up in a large glass.  After they’re muddled, allow them to sit for two or three minutes to help dissolve some of the sugar.  Add the cachaca and the bitters, stir, and serve over ice. You really don’t need a garnish here, as you’ll have muddled cherries and lime pieces in the glass.  Enjoy!