iiekanzou (ē-CON-sō)

 

Story

A home bartender named Matthias Soberon created a drink called The Nawashi (Japanese for “rope master”) that won a Home Bar Award and ended up on the menu at Amor Y Amargo in NYC.  It contains dry vermouth, CioCiaro amaro, benedictine, Peychaud’s bitters, and a whopping 0.75 oz of absinthe. As you might guess, it tastes like a glass of black licorice.  Despite that, it managed to be balanced rather than overwhelming, and was interesting because it has powerful flavor but no base spirit.  There were some suggestions online that Green Chartreuse might serve a similar role as absinthe in the drink without being quite so divisive, so I swapped that in and switched to tiki bitters instead.  Bingo.  Now the flavors are more equally represented and interesting.  The vermouth lengthens the punch of the chartreuse, while the amaro and benedictine amp up the fruitiness and the bitters tie it all together.  The name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for “no licorice”.

 
Recipe
1.5 oz dry vermouth
0.75 oz green chartreuse
0.5 oz Ramazzotti Amaro
0.5 oz Benedictine
1 dash Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters
-measure ingredients into mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill. Strain into coupe or Nick & Nora.

-express orange twist and use as a garnish.