<br />"Shepherd's Secret" is one of those drinks, that as good as it is, you need to learn to love it. There are many drinks like that--the traditional Negroni is one, for many people who are not used to the inherent bitterness of the Negroni. The "Shepherd's Secret" was only my secent cocktail made with Amaro Abano. It had only one rating (4.0), probably done by the person who posted the drink! So I gave it a try, mostly because the cocktail required only three major ingredients, all of which I had: blended Scotch (Dewar's), Amaro Abano, and green Chartreuse. So I carefully measured everything, stirred, and strained, drank, and rated--3.0.

The primary reason was that the Amaro Abano seemed to be the main player, overwhelming even the green Chartreuse. Not obnoxiously so, but enough to say too much pepper taste. So, rather than tossing the drink down the kitchen sink, and cleaning out the pipes, I decided to see what I could do to overcome the pepperish taste from this batch. After giving it some thought, I decided to do the simplest thing I could think of--float a small amount of the blended Scotch. And, by golly, it worked! I rated the revised drink as 4.0. The lesson to be learned here, if there is one, is that instead of changing proportions, simply floating one of the key ingredients can make a world of difference, and solve what was thought to be a major problem.

This is the same concept as the Piña Verde.The Branca Menta in this drink will add mintiness which is a nice choice although that is probably up to taste. The presence of lime (in that drink) improves that (and other) Piña Coladas so I would keep that. The Coco López is the traditional choice but I like the combination of CC and CL (although I would swap the proportions).