The Eeyore’s Requiem is a type of cocktail I absolutely love. It is clearly more at home on the bitter side and is once again a twist on the Italian classic Negroni. But it contains a higher aromatic complexity of bitter tones, which I find really exciting. Time to lift the secrets of the Eeyore’s Requiem!
I came upon the Eeyore’s Requiem by an article on the website of The Straight Up – Cocktail blog, where I also learned that it has been invented by Toby Maloney from the Violet Hour in Chicago. Mister Maloney relies on most of the classic ingredients inside a Negroni but slightly enhances them with additional ideas and readjusts some of the conventional ratios, so the Eeyore’s Requiem really becomes a very sophisticated reinterpretation. The part of the gin steps a little bit more into the background in order to promote the Campari to the rank of the essential base spirit inside the drink. It is then enriched with additional aromas of the Italian Amaros (bitters) Cynar and Fernet Branca. As a counterpoint to all those bitter aromas Toby Maloney uses Dolin Blanc, which is a rather sweet vermouth. Personally, I have prepared the drink both with sweet, as well as with drier vermouth and have to say that I personally do like the drier version a bit more.
The average American taste is certainly a little sweeter than the European (not for nothing are numerous soft drinks significantly sweeter in the United States than the European versions) and so you have to decide on your own which version you want to enjoy. For people skeptical and quite sensitive to bitter aromas I would recommend the sweeter variant, although I am a little doubtful such people will like the drink at all…
As you might know by the way, Eeyore is actually the name of the donkey from Winnie the Pooh. To what extent this drink actually is a requiem for this character I do not know.
Recipe (in US-typical ounces details):
1.5 oz Campari
0.5 oz Gin
0.25 oz Cynar
0.25 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Dolin Blanc (alternatively a drier vermouth, Lillet Blanc, for example)
15 drops of orange bitters
3 orange zests
Preparation: Stir all ingredients (except the orange zests) in a mixing glass over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Last sprinkle with the oil of the three orange zests.
Glass: cocktail glass
Garnish: none
Buying Sources: Most of the ingredients can already be found in well-stocked supermarkets. If you cannot find everything, you might have to visit specialist retailers or order some of the ingredients online.
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