Mixology Monday drinks are due this Monday, so we are adding another recipe for our “inverted” theme. The last week we spent a good deal of time looking at the bar and pantry and asking “can we invert that?” And the answer always seems to be “yes”, as long as we are willing to stretch the definition of “inverted” (and we are certainly willing to do that). And this cocktail, the Elmer Fudd’s Revenge, does fulfill the theme, even if the connection is a bit ridiculous tenuous.

So if you want to understand how the randomness “creative process” works here at the farm, here is how we created the cocktail:

• We saw a bottle of Laird’s bonded applejack looking lonely on the bar.
• The first drink we thought of was the Applejack Rabbit (good stuff).
• Maybe we could riff on the Applejack Rabbit for MXMO.
• We thought of famous rabbits and Bugs Bunny came to mind.
• Elmer Fudd never catches Bugs Bunny. Poor Elmer.
• So what could we “invert”? How about Elmer catching Bugs?
• If Elmer caught Bugs it would be a bloodbath. (Elmer has some pent-up frustrations.)
• Hey look, we have some Moro blood oranges.
• How about an Applejack Rabbit with blood oranges?

And that’s how we think before we start drinking….so the experiments began. The traditional Applejack Rabbit combines applejack, lemon juice, orange juice and maple syrup. It’s a sweet drink with just enough sour from the lemon juice to tame the maple syrup and orange. But when we used blood oranges, with their tart and berry notes, the maple syrup didn’t play as well. So we used simple syrup. That worked, but we lost the extra character of the maple. We fixed this by subbing 1/2 ounce of rye whiskey for some of the applejack. The spicy rye and blood oranges (surprisingly) play very well together.

Elmer Fudd’s Revenge combines applejack, rye, Meyer lemon juice, blood orange juice and simple syrup. This is a dryer cocktail than the Applejack Rabbit, with the applejack and rye in the lead and a bright, tart finish and a touch of berry flavor from the blood oranges. This is a very refreshing sip and an excellent way to use blood oranges in a cocktail, as the color and flavors make the drink, but don’t dominate. The only issue with this drink is that it goes down very easy…But after catching that “wascally wabbit”, Elmer deserves more than one to celebrate.

OK, one more “inverted” recipe to go (it’s been in the works for 10 days, not quite there yet).

Elmer Fudd’s Revenge:

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 oz. Laird’s bonded applejack
• 1/2 oz. rye whiskey
• 3/4 oz. Meyer lemon juice (or regular lemon juice)
• 3/4 oz. blood orange juice
• 1/3 oz. simple syrup (use 1/2 oz. if not using Meyer lemons)

Assemble:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, flute or coupé. Serve.

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