Recipe: Ritten Word
I recently encountered a cocktail called Ritten Word (you’ll get the name in a minute) at Zero Zero in San Francisco. It was an outstanding drink, with a recipe listed merely as follows (in all lowercase): rittenhouse, canton, cynar.
Interesting combo. Doesn’t immediately sound like it would work. But I ordered one and was blown away. I didn’t think to inquire as to its construction, so I set to work a week later trying to recreate it at home. I think I did so, just about perfectly. Try whipping one up and see if this combination of flavors — the ginger and rye spicing up the front; that amaro note washing over you on the finish — doesn’t do wonders for your winter cocktailing.
Ritten Word (Drinkhacker Tribute)
1.5 oz. Rittenhouse rye (or another quality rye)
.75 oz Domaine de Canton liqueur
.75 oz Cynar
Stir well in a mixing glass with plenty of ice and strain into a coupe or a cocktail glass. Garnish with a long strand of lemon peel.
Try it as well with Cynar 70 for a bolder amaro influence.
I don’t have Canton. How much King’s Ginger should I use (if you are familiar with that one too)?
The same amount should suffice, but you might experiment a bit with it… start with 1/2 oz and work up from there. Report back!
I ended up going ahead an putting an extra 5ml of the King’s since from the reports I’ve read online it seems the Canton is a little bit sweeter and stronger on the ginger than the King’s.
I was pleased that the end result seemed to have exactly the amount of ginger I thought it should have but it was a little bit too sweet and strong on the alcohol (King’s has much more than the Canton and Rittenhouse is 100 proof after all) both of which were remedied by adding some ice.
If I do any more experimentation I will probably do it with a different rye since I am getting low on Rittenhouse which is pretty dear up here in Canada. I bet our Lot. 40 would work well.
The drink seems pretty forgiving. I’ve been making it with Old Overholt even (out of Rittenhouse now), with a little extra tossed in, and it’s just as good.