Don Lee, PDT, New York, 2007.
| 1½ oz · 45 ml | GIN | 40 % |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | ELDERFLOWER LIQUEUR | 20 % |
| ¾ oz · 22 ml | LEMON JUICE | |
| ½ oz · 15 ml | SIMPLE SYRUP |
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.
| Pre-batch | 3.25 oz mixed with ice, 0.7 oz of it pure alcohol |
|---|---|
| Melt | Shaken: +20 % of the pre-batch, +0.65 oz of water |
| Served | 3.25 + 0.65 = 3.9 oz in the glass |
| Strength | 0.7 ÷ 3.9 = 17.9 % ABV as served |
| Ethanol | 0.7 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 16 g · about 114 kcal from the alcohol alone |
FROM GIN
The pine note in juniper berries, and the reason gin tastes like a forest. Co-distilled with the spirit during production. Found in actual pine trees, rosemary, basil, and a good London Dry. The "Christmas tree" smell of gin and the smell of a forest floor share a single molecule.
ALSO IN Negroni · Martini · Gimlet · Gin & Tonic · Aviation · Corpse Reviver #2 · French 75 · Bramble
FROM ELDERFLOWER · the coriander note
The coriander-lavender terpene. Saison and Belgian wit beers use coriander seeds as part of the spice bill, and linalool is the molecule doing the heavy lifting. Muscat grapes carry it too, the floral Moscato d'Asti note. Industrially common in shampoo and air freshener for the same reason it shows up in beer: the brain reads it as fresh.
ALSO IN Pisco Sour · Basil Smash · Hugo Spritz · Earl Grey Marteani · Pisco Punch · Caprese Martini
FROM LEMON · the lemon aroma
Lemon's defining note: technically a mix of two geometric isomers (geranial and neral) that read as the same aroma to the nose. Lemon peel, lemongrass, lemon verbena, and Indian chai all carry it. In cocktails it's what a lemon twist contributes that lemon juice can't: the volatile expressed from the oil glands, not the acid from the pulp.
ALSO IN Margarita · Mojito · Daiquiri · Whiskey Sour · Gimlet · Moscow Mule · Paper Plane · Aviation
Gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon and sugar. The alpha-pinene of gin meets the linalool and cis-rose oxide of elderflower, a botanical-on-botanical pairing. A sour format with floral top notes.
Don Lee created the Vieux Mot ('old word' in French) at New York's PDT in 2007, among the first American cocktails to use the then-brand-new St-Germain elderflower liqueur (launched 2007). The recipe spread rapidly as St-Germain became fashionable in 2008-2010. The name puns on Vieux Carré; the drink itself is structurally a sour with an elderflower modifier replacing some of the sugar.
