Now that the holiday doldrums have ceased for another year, I think we can begin to fire up some new cocktails. Yes, I can feel some distance now which, in turn, is creating some space in my brain. The new cocktail name, if you guessed it, is a long stretch but still somewhat relevant because the drink is based around the Army Navy template of gin, orgeat, ango. We made it seasonally significant by including a (ulp) muddled mandarin and some orange sherbet made with leftover orange juice and whatever else was loitering in the walk in. Once again, we’ve got our patented amazake orgeat in there to give it that good old umami boost to make you want more but can’t figure out why.

Lighten Up, Francis

1.5 oz. London Dry Gin

.5 oz. Orange Sherbet

.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Amazake Cashew Orgeat

.25 oz. Amargo Vallet

1 Medium Size Mandarin, Muddled

Shake, double strain in a chilled small coupe.

Angostura bitters no longer contain actual angostura bark, but Amargo Vallet does. Hence the switch. Confused? There’s this weird line of amaro from Royal Vallet. No, not Royal Valet serving Tulsa, Wichita, and Northeast Oklahoma, ding dong…Royal Vai-eh. The tried and true Angostura bitters are actually named after a town in Venezuala which is now Cuidad Bolivar. Paying attention? But Angostura bitters are now made in Trinidad and Tobago.

I guess the question is whether or not Angostura bitters ever contained angostura bark in the past. If you care to read about it, there’s a great explanation here on a website called bar-vademecum.eu. A much more well written and organized blog than this one…Anyway, if you’re like me and find it all very confusing, the article clears it up a bit…

Royal Vallet came about in 1882. The man himself, Henri Vallet, a Frenchman, emigrated from his motherland to Mexico City and started an amari company. There’s three products: Granada Vallet, a super, super bitter pomegranate aperitif, Fernet Vallet, a surprisingly weird, intense, rich, and very odd concoction, and Amargo Vallet, a 90 proof, deep red colored amaro made with angostura bark, cherry, citrus, and whatever else they throw in there. The whole line is difficult to find but so out there that it’s worth looking.

Angostura bark is and was used for all sorts of medicinal purposes including diarrhea, fever, spasms, and preventing the return of malaria.

And who, you might ask, is Francis? He’s a character from the 1981 movie Stripes starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and John Candy. Here’s the famous scene for your consideration: