Army & Navy

Nope not a military related post, though you wouldn't know it from the title! In looking for ways to use my homemade orgeat I found this Army and Navy cocktail. It was published in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David A. Embury. Attributed to the author, it was presumably invented in the 40's (the book was published in 48'). I have no idea why it's called Army & Navy and I'd really like to know... Maybe I'll have to buy the book! Whatever it's name is, this is a total winner.

You know when you try a new drink and think, "yeah that's really good!" and sometimes, maybe >3% of the time it's more like: O___O. And you yell at your significant other that they HAVE TO TRY THIS RIGHT NOW DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND DRINK THIS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

I'm pleased to say that this one was the later for me. It was hard not to have more than two, but I had to stop since it has 2 ounces of gin in each and it was a Wednesday night. It's just so damn good. I think it's a mix of the sweet warm taste of the orgeat, the sharp citrus and the herby gin. Heaven. Ok, can the poetry Molly, let's get to the recipe!

ARMY & NAVY

2oz Gin

1/2 oz Lemon juice

1/4 oz Orgeat

Usually we drink Beefeater gin, but our local liquor store doesn't carry it, so it's NYC for us. Homemade orgeat just does not photograph well... Kinda reminds me of this salad dressing (I AM reusing the same bottle). But I swear, it's quite delicious. 

It only took me 1/2 of a lemon to get 1/2 ounce.

Ooo! Nice color!

Wow, this thing is so beautiful. 

It can become less beautiful as the orgeat settles out. It doesn't taste any different but it looks not so hot. A swirl will reincorporate. I think the homemade orgeat is just kind of heavy and slightly oily.