Messing with Tradition - French 75's

An excellent drink - the French 75.

And with the handed down champagne coupe glasses - it is one classy cocktail.  
(Yes, I need to class up the photography here).

Highlighted for Valentine's Day on the Tom Douglas Co. blog, it was a truly lovely drink.  Gin & Champagne!  Seriously few things could be finer in my cocktail world.

But after my visit to Meet Your Maker here in Seattle on March 3, I made some new friends!

First - 3 Howls Gin.  An incredibly floral local gin.  Juniper takes a backseat to the flowery nose and lemony flavor at the center.  This is begging to be mixed with other floral and tart fruity liqueurs.  These are distillers having fun with the range of gin flavors and finding the place they want to be.

Second - Letterpress Distilliling's Limoncello.  Honestly like no other Limoncello I've tasted (I'm not claiming to have tasted them all, but...) A distinct lemon flavor rounded and smoothed - with a delicious honey aftertaste.  Oh, and Skip Tognetti was fun to talk to at the event.  He is passionate about what he's doing - and is happy to share.

It seemed like the two needed to meet.

The Original French 75 (and nothing to sneeze at) calls for
2 oz. dry gin, 1/2 oz. lemon juice and 1/4 oz. simple syrup - shake it up, pour into a glass, and top it off with dry sparkling wine.

By changing it it up -

2 oz. 3 Howls gin, 1/2 oz.* Letter Press Limoncello and 1/2 oz. lemon juice -

and then finishing the same way created a drink with depth while still retaining the lightness of the original.

Playing in the local pool of spirits...

Lots of fun!

*Just for your information - 1/2 oz. = 1Tbs if you are fumbling about in the kitchen.