October 31, 2024

JUMP TO RECIPE

I’ve been working on a series of cocktails inspired by the animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall for several years now, and I always get more focused on it for Fall. The plot focuses on two brothers wandering through dark woods called “The Unknown” and the folkloric characters they meet in their endeavor to find their way home. It aired on Halloween Night and is known for its very autumnal aesthetic. Accordingly, the flavor profiles of my drink recipes have been quite autumnal too.

One of the recipes I’ve been most pleased with is “The Beast,” made for that shadowy villain of The Unknown. Essentially a rum-based espresso martini riff, it was the basis of my cocktail feature last Halloween: “Like the Night.” I turned to that template again for this year’s feature, and drew inspiration from two other sources as well. A bracing build of coffee, herbal liqueur, and fernet menta, owes a great deal to Dzu Nguyen’s “Death by Morning” cocktail, and my title for this drink comes from existentialist thinker Emil Cioran. Ruminating on a graveyard, he refers to it as, “the end of promises,” a thought-provoking consideration that I thought fit the feel of both the drink and its season. Joe of Aqua Vitae helped me to workshop the build, and his insight and expertise dialed in the last nuances - namely the Black Walnut bitters, which tie the depth of the other ingredients together ideally.

A perfect mix for Halloween, it enlivens one to consider false promises and the inevitable cold comfort found in their end.

Featured Products:

Hamilton 151 False Idol Rum

Green Chartreuse

Giffard Café du Honduras

Vittone Fernet Menta

The End Of Promises Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz. Hamilton False Idol 151

  • 0.5 oz. Green Chartreuse

  • 0.5 oz. coffee liqueur (rec. Giffard Café du Honduras)

  • 0.25 oz. fernet menta (rec. Vittone Fernet Menta)

  • 1 oz. cold brew concentrate

  • 3 drops 20% saline solution

  • 3 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters

Step-by-Step Recipe:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin with ice.
  2. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe.
  3. Garnish with a few coffee beans

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