Alphabetically, dammit!

DH and I have decided to work our way through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh (aka Dr. Cocktail) alphabetically! (DH keeps saying we don't have to go alphabetically but I insist that we do!)

We are not purists - we may (probably will) make other substitutions along the way. We have some constraints - no sugar syrup (we use agave instead). As I go, I'll post what substitutions we're making and notes about how we liked the drink (or not).

We started tonight with the Alamagoozlum Cocktail.

I was nervous about this one - I typically HATE chartreuse. OTOH - raw eggwhite is fine with us - we have backyard chickens so I *know* my eggwhites are fine in drinks.

The list of ingredients:
1/2 egg white (I used a whole, small eggwhite)
2 oz genever gin (I used Tanqueray)
2 oz water (cold filtered water)
1-1/2 oz Jamaican rum (I used Myers Dark rum - it's Jamaican!)
1-1/2 oz yellow or green Chartreuse (I used 1/2 oz green Chartreuse)
1-1/2 oz gomme syrup or sugar syrup (I used 1/2 oz agave syrup)
1/2 oz orange curacao (I used 1 oz blue curacao)
1/2 oz angostura bitters (! I did it but wow. Never saw that much bitters in any drink before!)

So, the verdict?
I liked it pretty much as is. DH didn't like it - too sweet for him. I enjoyed it - although it was pretty sweet. We both liked the complexity. I was surprised to enjoy it in spite of the chartreuse!

In the future, if we make this again, I'm going to try a different rum (Myers can be pretty sweet), a different gin (I want to try genever gin), more chartreuse, less curacao, and experiment with other bitters.

DH here: the overwhelming sweetness was quite reasonably defeated once DW took half my drink and topped it up with more gin, chartreuse, dash of lemon bitters, two dashes of lemon juice on my request. Guess this makes it a totally different drink (we'll need to name it!-) but I taste the original complex taste essentially unaltered, just relieved from the oppression of the excessive sweetness.

Next up: the Algonquin! I'm looking forward to it...