cocktail review no. 56 - Blimey

You're going to need sugar for this one. Lots and lots of sugar.

Okay, maybe not that much sugar. But this is a powerfully sour drink, folks. Just be aware.

That having been said, it's good.

• 2 ounces Scotch
• ½ ounce lime juice
• ½ teaspoon superfine sugar

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine all the ingredients. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Be very careful which Scotch you use for this. You will taste it, and taste it strongly. I used my favorite blended whisky, Justerini & Brooks Rare Blend (which has 42 different whiskies in it).

That...um...might not have been the best choice.

J&B is excellent stuff, and I love a nip of it on a summer's eve or cold winter's night, with water, neat, or on the rocks. However, the selfsame qualities that give its unique flavor make it (occasionally) unsuitable for mixing. You may wish to pick something like Cutty Sark, Ballantine's or Johnnie Walker (Red Label if you're broke; Black Label if you have taste). The component whiskies that comprise J&B are largely produced in the Speyside region of Scotland, and therefore have a fruitier flavor which combines well with Coke, ginger ale or lemon.

It doesn't really lend itself well to lime, however. What you get with this cocktail, basically, is an overwhelming frontal assault of Scotch, supported by the tang of lime (and the most meager hint of sugar). If you know anything about the way Scotch or fresh-squeezed lime juice tastes, you'll understand just what a mother-pucker this libation is. I like it, though. I can appreciate the sensational feeling of two different flavors warring for gustatory primacy.

At the risk of sounding sexist, I will go as far as to call this a "man's drink." Ladies, it may very well prove too sour for you, and too...well, Scotchy. (That's why I suggested upping the sugar.)

However, if you are a man's man, a giant among mortals, who laughs at death and fears nothing this side of the grave, man up already. Don't tincture the substance with more sugar, nor castrate it by reducing the whisky content. Enjoy it as it is. Somebody, somewhere thought it was good. Do it for them.

On a historical note, "blimey" is British exclamation of surprise or annoyance. It's a bastardization of "gorblimey," which itself stems from "God blind me" (same as  "Zounds" was once "God's wounds" and "yikes" was once "yoicks").

And now you know the rest of the story. [slurp]