Today I don’t want to spend much time talking; instead I’d like to introduce a drink that I liked very much (a little bit surprisingly) and which I can only recommend to everyone. It’s not really a drink of my own, it’s more of a modification of a modification.

The Bijou cocktail is a drink that I have not yet discussed separately here, although I really appreciate it very much. A closer look on its individual components promise a drink, which is completely to my taste: Gin, red vermouth, Chartreuse Verte and Orange Bitters. The Bijou is a pre-prohibition drink from the late 19th century (first mentioned in Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual in 1900), which translated means as much as “jewel”. That name was given due to the colours of the ingredients used (diamond, ruby and emerald).

Recipe “Bijou”:

2 cl Dry Gin
2 cl red vermouth
2 cl Chartreuse Verte
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

Preparation: Stir all ingredients on ice until cold and strain into a pre-cooled glass. Spray with the oil of the zests.

Glass: Martini

Garnish: lemon zest

A very interesting variant of this drink is the Bijou you me too, whereby age and origin of this cocktail with the funny name are unfortunately not known to me. Essentially, it is a drink with equal proportions. The Bijou recipe is supplemented with a dry, white vermouth, while the orange bitters are omitted. (A nuance of orange finds its way into the drink through the oil of an orange zest.)

Recipe “Bijou you me too”:

2 cl Dry Gin
2 cl red vermouth
2 cl white, dry vermouth
2 cl Chartreuse Verte

Preparation: Stir all ingredients on ice until cold and strain into a pre-cooled glass. Spray with the oil of the zest.

Glass: Martini

Garnish: lemon zest and orange zest

Well, now I have taken this Bijou you me too as my starting point and simply replaced the Gin with a smoky Laphroaig Quarter Cask. It works really well and I can’t imagine that nobody will have had this idea before. But since I couldn’t find a drink of this kind in a hurry, I simply named it “Smoky Quartz”, because it was the first gemstone that came to my mind and has something to do with smoke. As already announced in my article about the Del Professore Vermouths, I also wanted to use the Vermouth Del Professore Rosso all’uso di Torino in a drink. And in this recipe it can show its worth together with the Vermouth Del Professore Classico Tradizionale. And the result is – I already mentioned it – quite wonderful.

Recipe “Smoky Quartz”:

2 cl Laphroaig Quarter Cask
2 cl Vermouth Del Professore Rosso all’uso di Torino
2 cl Vermouth Del Professore Classico Tradizionale
2 cl Chartreuse Verte

Preparation: Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass on ice until cold and strain into a pre-cooled glass. Spray with the oil of the zests.

Glass: Martini

Garnish: two lemon zests

Buying sources: At specialized retailers or online