Mustard Slap

When I taste a new cocktail, liquor, or wine, there are always a bunch of different things that go through my mind.  I've never bought into the whole arrogant, dismissive vibe that a lot of oenophiles and cocktail enthusiasts and douches seem to like - that anything you are imbibing for the first time must inherently be worse than what you've already encountered.  Instead, the three things that often go through my mind as a checklist of the quality of the potable are:

1. If I got really really drunk on this shit, and this alone, what would it be like?  Do I need to have an especially large/heavy/small/carnivorous meal before I imbibe it in order to appreciate it the most?
2. How big is the quality gap between the Nicolai and the Grey Goose, the Pépe and the Patrón, for this particular spirit?  I bought a bottle (or two) of "Hawkeye" bourbon in Iowa earlier this year - it's 80% grain neutral and 20% 36 month-old whiskey.  I sit it right next to my W.L. Weller to keep me honest in my taste assessment.
3. What would this mix well with?  What would it utterly fail with? When can I try it out?

Patrón

Pépe

With that in mind, I ask you to consider this new addition to my cocktail repertoire, the Mustard Slap.

Born out of a desire to have a powerful cocktail taste like a powerful cocktail without any alcohol taste at the end, I chose the ever-effervescent absinthe to mix with a "perfect" vermouth combo.  It has an abrasive opening taste, but fades quickly from the mouth, leaving you wondering if you got the taste quite right.


Mustard Slap
1 1/2 oz Bourbon
1 1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
3/4 oz Absinthe
Juice of half a Lemon (1 oz)

Shake and strain into a rocks glass.  Garnish with a lemon rind lightly coated in spicy brown mustard.  Alternately if you don't have a fresh lemon, just drop a tiny ball of mustard into the glass - be aware it's ugly, and don't drink it at the end :-)