Rhythm and Soul

Greg Best | Atlanta, GA

rhythm and soul cocktail recipe greg best

The Rhythm and Soul is Greg Best’s composite sketch of a Manhattan and a Sazerac. “I imagine the two cocktails getting into a tussle on the high street of a small frontier town,” says Best, “and then making up and having a love child.” With a base of bourbon and sweet vermouth, accented with the licorice fragrance of the absinthe-like Herbsaint, and balanced out with Averna and Angostura bitters, this drink has, as Best says it, “the rhythm of a Manhattan and the soul of a Sazerac.”

Ingredients

Serving: 1

  • 1 barspoon Herbsaint
  • 1 barspoon Herbsaint
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon (preferably Wathen's)
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon (preferably Wathen's)
  • 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (preferably Carpano Antica)
  • 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth (preferably Carpano Antica)
  • 1/2 ounce Averna
  • 1/2 ounce Averna
  • 4 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Garnish: lemon peel

Directions
  1. Fill a rocks glass with cracked ice and add a bar spoon of Herbsaint. Set aside.
  2. Add remaining ingredients to a mixing glass.
  3. Add ice and stir until chilled.
  4. Roll the Herbsaint and ice mixture around the inside of the rocks glass to coat. Discard.
  5. Strain the contents of the mixing glass into the seasoned glass.
  6. Garnish with a lemon peel.