Rose Vermouth Pisco Cocktail
A rose-infused vermouth & pisco cocktail that drinks like a Manhattan.
It seems like there’s a celebratory day or month for everything now, and with that said, June was rose month. We partnered with Ron Nicole to bring a rose cocktail to her audience. Along the way, we ended up developing three additional cocktails we’ll share with you here on the blog.
Each of the cocktails this month pairs botanical rose with aperitifs and spirits to support, but not overwhelm, rose as an ingredient. These spirits featured (pisco, tequila blanco, rye, and rosé) all contain aromatic compounds that present as rose aromas. While each cocktail recipe uses a DIY rose petal-infused fortified wine, the base spirit itself will also support the rose theme. Used with restraint, rose has a spiced quality to it that works well with a multitude of spirits that we’ll showcase over the course of June. Used incorrectly, it can feel like you’ve over-applied every item in a Bath and Body Works store.
In the subsequent cocktails, you’ll be making a rose-infused Dolin Dry Vermouth as the floral highlight ingredient. While there are many ways we could add rose flavor to drinks, we thought if we were making the ask of you to infuse rose, you should be able to have the tools to use up the entire DIY infusion.
To make this as accessible as possible, we are using a cold infusion method. If you wanted to speed up the process, you could use sous vide infusion in which a gentle circulating water bath at a low temperature helps move things along. In speeding up the process, there is a trade-off in that you may lose some of the nuanced botanicals from the vermouth itself by heating.
When sourcing rose for food or beverage purposes, make sure you’re purchasing ‘food grade’ or from a trusted source. Roses can be highly sprayed with pesticides when grown for floral arrangements or aesthetic purposes, so we want to make sure we’re keeping chemicals out of your drink.
If you don’t feel like infusing rose into dry vermouth, pick up some rose water and add a few gentle dashes.
El Capitán
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces Pisco Mosto Verde
1/2 ounce Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1/2 ounce rose infused Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/4 ounce simple syrup
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
lemon peel
DIRECTIONS
Infuse dry rose petals into Dolin Dry Vermouth via cold infusion or sous vide (about 3/4 cup dry petals and 750 mL vermouth). Strain and discard petals.
In a mixing glass with ice, add all ingredients except lemon peel.
Stir for about 30 seconds and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Express the lemon peel into the glass and garnish. Serve immediately.
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