Milk & Honey, New York, ~2003.
| 2 oz · 60 ml | RYE WHISKEY | 45 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | PUNT E MES | 16 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | MARASCHINO LIQUEUR | 32 % |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 3 oz mixed with ice, 1.14 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Stirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.45 oz of water |
| Served | 3 + 0.45 = 3.45 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 1.14 ÷ 3.45 = 33.0 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 1.14 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 27 g · about 186 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM RYE · from oak barrel aging
Bourbon's fingerprint, extracted from the charred American oak the law requires for aging. Same molecule as the vanilla bean's signature, so a well-aged bourbon legitimately tastes like vanilla. Chemistry, not metaphor. Cognac, aged rum, tequila reposado all extract vanillin from oak too. Different barrels, same molecule.
ALSO IN Old Fashioned · Manhattan · Whiskey Sour · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Espresso Martini · Mai Tai
FROM PUNT E MES
The bitter from gentian root, used across Campari, Aperol, sweet vermouth, Angostura, and most amari. Bitter compounds activate TAS2R taste receptors that evolved to detect plant alkaloids. The same machinery that makes broccoli taste bad to children also makes a Negroni taste like an adult ordered it.
ALSO IN Negroni · Manhattan · Paper Plane · Boulevardier · Sazerac · Naked & Famous · Last Word · Vieux Carré
Rye, Punt e Mes and maraschino. Punt e Mes is a bittered sweet vermouth from Carpano, with gentianin on top of the standard wormwood-and-wine base. Without bitters, the Punt carries the bittersweet function alone, and maraschino adds benzaldehyde-forward cherry to balance.
Vincenzo Errico created the Red Hook at Milk & Honey, named for the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood. The drink kicked off the modern wave of Brooklyn-borough cocktail variations on the 1908 Brooklyn template. Punt e Mes (Italian for 'a point and a half,' the original 1870 Carpano formula) handles both the vermouth and bitters roles in one ingredient.
