Blotto

For this month’s Mixology Monday, Jimmy Patrick at Jimmy’s Cocktail Hour proposed a theme of variations.

The Maiden’s Prayer is one of those odd formulations of four ingredients in equal proportions: gin, light rum, Cointreau, lemon juice. It is a drink that has been handed down to us from the early part of the 20th Century, along with a sister drink, the Between the Sheets, which replaces the gin with brandy.

This variation on the Maiden’s Prayer is one that I built using the generative principal of variation by substitution. Starting with the ingredients list for the Maiden’s Prayer, the Cointreau is replaced by Maraska maraschino. This exchange results in a very different drink, which I call the Hope Chest.

the Hope Chest
In a mixing glass, pour over ice
◇ ¾ oz Bluecoat gin,
◇ ¾ oz Mt Gay Special Reserve rum,
◇ ¾ oz Maraska maraschino,
◇ ¾ oz Meyer lemon juice.
Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

My normal pour for this drink is Tanqueray, but since I had recently received a bottle of Bluecoat gin, I tried that. The Bluecoat gin lends a wonderful citrus aroma that plays very nicely with the Meyer lemon juice. The Maraska, being somewhat more syrupy and less fiery than the Luxardo maraschino, is close to the sweetness of the Cointreau (which it replaces) while delivering cherry and almond notes to replace the interest that the triple sec would have. In all, it is a fine late-night drink, for the hour in which sweeter things should be contemplated.