SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION at the bar

As we await the restoration of my attic study’s HVAC system tomorrow — at which time we all know that my creative flow will immediately gush forth in an uncontrollable and astounding gush — here’s a quick lesson in SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION, this one with cocktails.

In my little bar book, I write the recipes of drinks I want to remember, including those I have invented. Behold my Quarter Moon:

It is practically a Ship of Theseus in cocktail form. I normally do not write a new cocktail’s recipe into the book until I’ve finished fiddling with it, but for some reason with this one I did. You can see that not one component of it remained the same as I tested it and refined it. It’s not even the same drink!

This happens with every new cocktail, of course. Some bartender thinks, “Ooh, what if I used x with y?” and mixes up an ABORTIVE ATTEMPT. Sometimes it’s delicious right off the bat, but I guarantee you that 90% of the time adjustments have to be made.

It is a perfect example of GESTALT: What’s wrong with this picture? Or in cocktail terms, does it need to be sweeter? Does it need less of one thing or more of another? Should I swap out the sweet vermouth for Averna Amaro?

And sometimes, the mixologist’s bright idea is simply a failure. No amount of tweaking can make it palatable. Pour it out. Start over. (No, really, pour it out. Your liver is taking enough of a beating with each SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION as it is.)

There is, by the way, a new cocktail coming over at dalelyles.com, just soon as I figure out a name for it.