Mythos Absinthe Cocktail: Yikilth Old Fashioned
2 oz. White Rum
1 /4 oz La Clandestine Absinthe
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
2 dashes Cardamom Bitters
Stir everything with ice and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass with a large block of ice. Express a White Grapefruit peel over the drink and drop it on top so the White Worm can rest on his mountain of ice.
“We serve the One whose coming was foretold by the prophet Lith,” they said. “From spaces beyond the limits of the north he hath come in his floating citadel, the ice-mountain Yikilth, to voyage the mundane oceans and to blast with a chill spendour the puny peoples of humankind.” The Coming of the White Worm, Clark Ashton Smith
I wanted to add an Old Fashioned riff to this Mythos Absinthe Cocktail series but, in doing so, I was afraid of making something closer to a Sazerac than an Old Fashioned as all of my Mythos Absinthe Cocktails do indeed require Absinthe in them to qualify. The idea started with the idea that I really wanted to make a clear drink that emphasized clear ice. A few synaptic brain cell fires woke the idea of the floating citadel of the White Worm on the Ice Mountain of Yikilth. Then the trick was to find a clear drink that would be generally served on the rocks in a rocks glass.
Strange was the manner of that voyaging, for it seemed that the great iceberg was guided by the sorcery of the worm, prevailing ever against wind and tide. And always, by night or day, like the beams of a deathly beacon, the chill splendour smote afar from Yikilth.” The Coming of the White Worm, Clark Ashton Smith
The Yikilth Old Fashioned started as a mashup of Gastronomista’s White Pike Cardamom Old Fashioned and Difford’s Guide’s White Old Fashioned . I chose White Rum as a base to further differentiate if from a Sazerac, keep the drink white for the theme, and have the chance to create another Absinthe cocktail that includes Rum because there aren’t very many. I did want to add a little more Absinthe than a wash or a couple of dashes to affect the flavor a little more.
“And sorrow was in his heart for the fishing-coracles and the biremes of trade and warfare that floated manless after they had met Yikilth.” The Coming of the White Worm, Clark Ashton Smith
Eldritch Storm
An early idea for a Mythos Absinthe Old Fashioned was one I was going to call the Eldritch Fashioned which consisted of Whiskey, Elderflower Liqueur, Absinthe and some sort of Sugar and Bitters. While it tasted lovely, I already had a Mythos Cocktail named the Eldritch Storm and didn’t want to repeat the same terminology if possible. After coming up with the idea I came across another drink that was simply an Absinthe Old Fashioned that also combined Absinthe and Elderflower that I really do have to try, and maybe use as a base to warp into something new.
I’ll be perfectly honest, when trying to come with with a drink based on The White Worm, it was really tempting to pick up a bottle of shit Mezcal and serve it with the Larvae in the glass, but no…. just no. I quickly swept that idea from my thoughts.
