New goal for February: drink half a bottle of amaretto. I bought a bottle of it for a party years ago and it needs to get off my bar. Though its pretty tasty, its sweetness and marzipan-like flavor makes it less than versatile. Probably great paired with Middle-Eastern pastries, but otherwise I'm not won over.
The other ingredient I have on hand is a pile of grapefuits and grapefruits are the backbone of two of my favorite drinks. The first is a paloma, a tequila highball made with grapefruit soda (though its much better with fresh grapefruit juice, syrup and club soda). You can get a solid one at Bar Pilar, where I think they use Jones, or great one at Cafe Atlantico, where they use house-made soda, dress it up with cinnamon and call it a spicy dove. The second is a bourbon punch which Gina makes. Of course, neither of these include amaretto.
So, getting to my point...riffing on a paloma has two major upsides: grapefruit juice pairs will with bourbon, providing the brown liquor bridge to amaretto, and amaretto is super sweet so it can be subbed in for syrup, bringing us to the...
Nutty Dove
Shake and strain into a collins glass filled 3/4 with large ice cubes:
3 oz. bourbon (I used Rebel Yell, because it's $10 in MoCo)
1.5 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz. amaretto
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Top with club soda.
