Mythos Absinthe Cocktail: De Cassis of Charles Dexter Ward

3/4 oz Sagamore Rye
3/4 oz La Clandestine Absinthe
3/4 oz Crème de Cassis
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled Coupe Glass

“It is hard to explain just how a single sight of a tangible object with measurable dimensions could so shake and change a man; and we may only say that there is about certain outlines and entities a power of symbolism and suggestion which acts frightfully on a sensitive thinker’s perspective and whispers terrible hints of obscure cosmic relationships and unnamable realities behind the protective illusions of common vision.” ― H.P. Lovecraft, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

I’ll be perfectly honest, I wanted to make this drink just because I thought the name was funny. Crème de Cassis is a liqueur I never really use all that often but found that I had a small bottle already. I started by looking up various other cocktails that use this Blackcurrant Liqueur, but nothing really jumped out at me with a statement that this is what Charles Dexter Ward, or perhaps Joseph Curwen, would drink.

Then, since I already had the name of the drink before the actual contents, I sought something I could use in that name as I am a fan of naming conventions. I quickly recalled a drink called the Final Ward which is Phil Ward’s (of Death and Co.) spin on the classic Last Word cocktail that swaps out Rye for the Gin in the original. I had my base.

Changing out the Maraschino Liqueur for some Crème de Cassis was an easy decision, but I wasn’t sure if I should to a complete swap of Absinthe for the Chartreuse as the Absinthe might completely take the reigns of the drink. I figured that since the Crème de Cassis was much sweeter than Luxardo that removing the Chartreuse would keep the drink from getting overly sweet and using a La Bleue like La Clandestine that always plays well in everything would be the best choice. As it turns out, it seemed to be a good decision as it did end up being very sweet. Oddly, the Absinthe didn’t take over at all and I’m tempted to adjust the ratios a bit away from the classic 3/4 oz x4 to raise the Rye to 1 full oz and drop the lemon to 1/2 to cut back on the tartness.

In order to keep this firmly in the list of Mythos Cocktails, it indeed needed the Absinthe, even if it would have been just a wash. I think I have enough of these to finally kick off a long-term project I’ve been planning and slowly building. A LOT of these cocktails need a seriously critical revamping, but I think enough are decent enough to get moving with. Stay tuned in 2019 for De Vermis Myxologiis, The Mixology of the Worm(wood)™.