Normally, a fall evening should start with an Old Fashioned for me. But I remembered a discussion I had earlier this week with my friend and an absolute aficionado of classical brown alcohol drinks – Hunt – and decided to go with a Manhattan. Unlike him though, I refuse to have my Manhattans with any other kind of whiskeys than the ryes!!

I thought of throwing in a Luxardo brandied cherry for the garnish, but the concept of anything sweet did not sit well with me after the cold motorbike ride and the cold boat ride.

Okay, this turned out even better but I am still not there. Made all the changes I said I will do in the previous post. Additionally, instead of Sambuca or Absinthe, I used Licor Beirao form Portugal.

There is a bit of a bitter tinge in the end of the palate that I do not care about. So, the next take will be to do everything the same but not use tonic water at all. I suspect the quinine in the tonic water is leaving the bitter taste.

Will report back.

Tried the following variations from the previous version.
(*) Added a dash of simple syrup.
(*) Instead of adding Sambuca, I rinsed the inside of the glass with absinthe
(*) Stirred the gulkhand after every ingredient was added (instead of shaking).
(*) Initially, I threw in some tonic water too.

The drink came out even better than last time. But still not perfect. I will go back to the Sambuca again.

“Misti Paan” is the Bengali name for an after meal treat you often have. It is basically some slaked lime, chopped betel nuts, “khair“, gulkhand (rose petal extracts) and some other stuff that I do not know wrapped in a betel leaf in the shape of a triangle. A flattened samosa if you will.

In an effort to bring out that effect on the nose and palate, I made this drink with Paan liqueur (talked about this new find previously), gulkhand (got from amazon), vodka and Sambuca.

It is getting pretty close. Next time I am going to drop in a little sugar syrup.

Some of you had written that you love Paan liqueur. If you come up with some variations of your own, please let me know.

This is equal parts Aloe Liqueur (Chreau), Fernet Branca and Cognac (Remy Martin). You can substitute the Cognac with American Brandy.

Would not say this is a Fall drink. More appropriate in warmer temperatures.