Heart of the Galaxy

2 oz Angostura 1919 Rum
1 oz Chambord
2-3 dashes Orgeat Syrup

Stir Rum and Chambord with ice and strain into a chilled Coup. Drizzle the Orgeat and garnish with a fresh Raspberry.

Hey, it’s National Cocktail Day and on this contrived Drinking Holiday I have a new one based on SCIENCE!!! A while back some intrepid scientists discovered that the heart of our galaxy tastes like raspberries and smells of rum. According to the scientists, in the center of the galaxy they found a vast dust cloud full of a substance called Ethyl Formate. Ethyl Formate is known to smell like Rum and is the chemical responsible for the flavor of raspberry in, well, raspberries (pssst, if, by some chance you didn’t already know,  all natural things full of scary sounding chemicals). 

This is very sweet and both the Chambord and this particular rum have very rich flavors that really vie for your attention. I feel like this needs some adjustment to its balance and it does feel like it might be missing something, but I have no idea what. That said, as a quick concept like the Comet Lovejoy Cocktail, I like it. I think I’ll add this as a Cocktail From Beyond.

With the simplicity of the chemistry of the space raspberry discovery I wanted to go simple with this drink. It’s a simple take on a Manhattan with Rum and the Raspberry Liqueur, Chambord. Now, instead of bitters I used a wee bit of Orgeat even though I don’t feel like it affected the flavor very much. I was hoping I could swirl it in the top of the drink to create a milky, galaxy swirl but that didn’t work. As a sugar syrup, each drop sank right down. That said, the true reason for wanting to use the Almond syrup was that, along with the Ethyl Formate, they also discovered trace amounts of Propyl Cyanide (which is actually a scary chemical, but it tastes like Almonds).