Welcome once again everyone. This week, I’ve decided to deviate a bit from the theme of simplicity I’ve been writing about over the last few weeks.  I have a fairly extensive list of drinks I’ve found either in my cocktail books, or the internet that I’ve been adding to every time I see something interesting. This week, with nothing immediately planned for this space, I consulted the list and came across one that caught my eye not too long ago: The Rattlesnake.

I ended up researching a couple different variations of this drink, but I settled on using the Bon Appetit recipe, and I added some angostura bitters that I saw in a couple different recipes for some flair. Mainly because at its core, the rattlesnake is a whiskey sour without fruit garnish, and an anise rinse. Knowing that, I am fairly confident that I will like this drink. Though I am hoping for more depth from the rye base, and a less of an acidic/sour note since there is only one source of citric acid in this application. I am also curious to see how the anise flavor fits into all of this. Let’s find out!

The Rattlesnake:

2 oz. Rye whiskey

1 oz. Lemon juice

1 Egg white

¾ oz. Simple syrup

combine the rye, lemon juice, egg white and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously (without ice) until mixture starts to get frothy. Fill shaker with ice and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is frosty and cocktail is frothy, about 20 seconds (yes, a full 20 seconds).

Rinse a chilled coupe glass with Pernod; discard. Strain cocktail through a fine-mesh sieve into glass.

Yes, that is a wine tasting glass. It’s the closest I could come to a coupe or a snifter here. Clearly I need to add more glassware to the bar supplies we keep locked here for ourselves. Regardless of glassware, the drink is a bit anise forward on the nose, but not enough to make you second guess your rinsing technique. What I did  for my rinse was to pour some in the bottom of the glass, and carefully rotate it around to make sure all the walls were coated with the liqueur. Happily, I didn’t end up wasting a lot once I achieved a sufficient coating so apparently I used the proper amount.

Anyway, the cocktail has an interesting flavor on the first sip.  It starts out with a combination of rye and lemon (good enough on its own) before the simple syrup comes through, and it rounds out with a little more lemon at the end. The egg gives it a nice viscosity and foam that coats your mouth with each sip. Despite the lemon showing up in the front and back of the sip, it is very well balanced. No single ingredient really dominates, they all seem to play off of each other and know when to make their presence known. It does sit a bit heavy though, so you won’t be able to house 3 or 4 of these in quick succession, which I suppose is a good thing in the end.

As to the bitters, they don’t really bring too much to the party. That’s probably why I didn’t see them as an ingredient consistently. They are definitely more for show here, despite my weak attempt at drawing an “S” in the foam (I also was using the tines of a seafood fork since I am bereft of toothpicks here). If you have angostura bitters and feel artistic, give decorating a shot. Otherwise, let them sit this one out.

I think I got about half of what I was looking for here. The rattlesnake isn’t super sour like a whiskey sour, but I think I was hoping for a little more definition from the rye in this application. By no means is this a bad drink! Don’t misunderstand me here, I think I was hoping for just a little something else to give it a little bit of separation from a whiskey sour. Either way, if you’re in the mood for a whiskey sour, but are lacking the fruit, go and make a rattlesnake instead.

(Banner image found here)