I wanted to create a savory Gibson martini riff with thyme liqueur. The first iteration used dry vermouth and was too dry (Noilly Prat), along with having too much thyme, and included celery bitters which seemed an unnecessary distraction. I simplified it by dialing back the thyme and vermouth, and using Comoz which, while sweet, is somewhat drier than Dolin Blanc and much drier than Italian bianco vermouths.

Made for Reddit Original Cocktail Competition, October 2023 (Maple & Whiskey).

I built this around Martini & Rossi's Fiero Aperitivo. Fiero is an orange vermouth style, a wine aperitif, with an orange zest/juice dominated profile. I became aware of it while trying to locate "Rossi Aperitif", an ingredient in a few cocktail's from Grassi's 1936 "1000 Misture." This led me to some old advertising posters that featured a big Sun-like orange, with a bottle of the aperitif balanced on its head, looking up with its tongue out, thirsting for a taste.

I can't be certain, but Fiero appears to be a modern version/relaunch of this "Vin Aperitif" as in a 1930's poster by Jean Droit. The 2020 launch of Fiero was aimed at the Aperol spritz market, but there is some parallel to wine based Cappelletti Aperitivo and Fiero seems to have noticeable wormwood as with vermouth.

I decided to combine Fiero with the vanilla notes of Spain's Licor 43, and the sweet resin of Skinos Mastiha to create a bright, sweet, fun orange-vermouth cocktail in the summer holiday vein. Tanqueray London Dry gin was the base spirit.

CAPT Chuck gets it done.

CAPT Chuck expects that this will put some hair back on his head !!

Taxol is one thing ..... THIS is the elixir which gets it done !!!

After writing up a Penicillin riff called the Juju Man, I became inspired to riff on its citrus, honey, ginger aspect. I mashed up this concept with the Cynar-Chartreuse The Drink of Laughter and Forgetting and named it A Kidnapped Drink after another Milan Kundera work, A Kidnapped West.