Cookies!
The Riddles in the Dark.
What never ceases to amaze me about cocktails is how things can taste like what they’re not. There aren’t cherries in a Manhattan (well, except the garnish), but Manhattans tend to have a strong cherry note. There isn’t grapefruit in a Negroni, but Negronis have a grapefruity bitterness to them. And there isn’t an oatmeal raisin cookie in this cocktail, but Kirk and Maks write in Beta Cocktails that “it tastes like an oatmeal raisin cookie.”
The drink in question is the Riddles in the Dark, the final of three drinks using that wretched bottle of Pedro Ximenez sherry. And that descriptor peaked my interest because I love oatmeal raisin cookies. Take your hate somewhere else!
Anyway. The Riddles in the Dark was created by Al Sotack when he was working at Philadelphia’s iconic Franklin Mortgage & Investment Company (which, yes, is a bar). Sotack later opened the bar Jupiter Disco with Beta’s Maks Pazuniak himself. He also writes about cocktails for Epicurious, where he’s always a great read. Oh, and he introduced me to one of my favorite Irish whiskey cocktails, the Brainstorm.
Sotack’s Riddles in the Dark is a high-wire balancing act of a drink, calling for six bottles, some of which are pretty specialized. On its face, it’s a Manhattan riff, with rye whiskey and a split base of Carpano Antica sweet vermouth and PX sherry. Tempering the sweetness of the sherry with robust Carpano Antica is interesting to me by itself. But Sotack doesn’t stop there.
This drink also stars Nardini, a lesser-known Italian amaro that doesn’t really fall under any of the major styles. I hadn’t tasted it before buying it for this drink, and: Oh. My. God. The stuff is magical. It’s orangey and minty, combining two of go-to after-dinner flavors, along with notes of licorice and chocolate. It’s pretty light, yet very satisfying. Lately, I’ve enjoyed it in a Nar-Nar, a 50/50 combination of Nardini and Cynar.
Sotack rounds out the drink with a half-teaspoon of Cherry Heering, which I used in the Arbitrary Nature of Time, and six drops of Bitter End’s Moroccan bitters. The internet tells me these bitters have notes of cardamom and lime, which sounds very interesting, but — I have a budget here, and I’m not buying a whole bottle of bitters only to use eight drops. I’m using Angostura, which I don’t anticipate wrecking the balance of this drink.
Riddles in the Dark1
1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey
3/4 ounce Carpano Antica
1/2 ounce Pedro Ximenez Sherry
1/4 ounce Nardini Amaro
1/2 teaspoon R&W Orchard Cherry
8 drops Bitter End Moroccan bitters
Stir and strain into a coupe. Express the oil of a lemon peel and discard.
By Al Sotack
The guys were right — this does taste like an oatmeal raisin cookie! But let’s break it down. The raisin is, obviously, from the sherry. The malty notes of the rye come through as the oatmeal. There are prominent baking spice notes (cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar) all over this drink from the rye, Nardini, and bitters, along with a hint of vanilla from the Carpano Antica. I don’t taste cherry in this drink, but I trust that the Cherry Heering is rounding out everything somehow. The Nardini is the most interesting aspect of this drink to me, adding faint mint and orange zest to that oatmeal raisin cookie flavor. And I actually enjoyed the long, raisiny finish that the sherry gave to this drink, which evolved into brown sugar over time. This is a desserty sipper without being overly sweet, and definitely my favorite use of the PX sherry. A masterclass in balance.
Up next, another digestif drink — that doubles as an aperitif.
From Beta Cocktails by Maksym Pazuniak and Kirk Estopinal, 2011.