Amazing.

Published in the 2009 Rogue Cocktails book so the year needs to be changed from 2010.

Date adjusted, thanks!

Light curation: rephrased the instructions and history to avoid copyright infringement.

The rosemary garnish is delicious, but this drink is really sweet. I added 1.5 oz gin, which helped some. If I were to try again, I would probably just make a Bitter Elder with rosemary added...

I made these last night using blood orange juice instead of lime juice. More intense color, different perfume. Altogether very interesting.

I am going to give this recipe a try with a rosemary tincture in lieu of substituting gin to 'beef' it up. Haha, but a London dry would be all wrong anyway. I would consider dumping some Hendricks or an Old Tom in there but any gin is going to overpower the subtle notes of the Aperol and StG's. a tincture is pretty harsh too but a few drops of one seasoned with rosemary should do just the trick.

I will try small versions all three ways and proffer some reflections.

I tried the original recipe in a half portion and it was way too sweet and sour in alternating doses.

I used an ounce of Hendricks (half ounce) on the variation and found it to be a delightful drink. However, it was similar to a Negroni with more sweet and less bitter in the aftertaste (this is obviously discounting the tones of rosemary that make is markedly different in aroma). The real problem was this: the drink didn't taste much like a 'sour' anymore with the gin. It was a good drink but an entirely different one.

Using the half measures again, I made a version and used sweetened lime juice (in lieu of fresh squeezed in the others) and 2 ml of rosemary tincture and no garnish. It was easily the best of the three and still had a flavoring in keeping with the drink's name. The sweetened lime juice gave it that nice 'sour' feel and fortified the mixture against the introduction of 50-60% alcohol tincture (I used equal parts water and everclear for the recipe).

Finally, I celebrated my tweak with a regular sized version:
1 1/2 oz Aperol
3/4 oz St. Germain
3/4 oz Rose's Sweetened Lime
3 ML of Rosemary Tincture

shaken well in ice and strained into a chilled coup then garnished with a small sprig of rosemary (no need to slap). It was fantastic and I will be making this for friends soon enough to get their thoughts.

I used my usual sour ratios and made it less sweet and, to my palate, more delicious .

Try:

2oz Aperol

1oz Lime juice

.5oz St Germain

It was good, but a bit sour. I added 1/4 oz. Kirschwasser and that boosted it to a 4 star for me.

Di likes

Very good drink, but like so many drinks with St. Germain​, you only need about half of what the recipe calls for, IMO. It's delightful stuff, but it's insanely sweet.

Made this with half the amount of St Germain. It's the perfect balance of grapefruit, floral elderflower, and alcohol bite, though I'd use a London Dry Gin over alternatives

Was way too much of the liqueurs with such a small amount of sparkling wine. Adding more of the latter made it a bit better but was still a bit powerful. I used Golden Moon's creme de violette, which I like better but is weaker than Rothman & Winter, and it still was too much. I'd say 1/4 of each, at least 2 oz of bubbles, and a dash less of lavender.

Curated slightly: found a working link for the source.

Made with Plymouth although I imagine using the specified Voyager would make for a bolder drink. Very nice, sort of a more refined gimlet.

Dan, thanks for the nice picture! As for the prosecco in the shot the Mionetto secco was a great call, just what I used last Thanksgiving!

Lillet asked for a photo, so I obliged.