What will they think of next? (December issue)

PHOTO BY WILLIAM M. DOWD

Signature drinks sometimes have close competition within their own establishment. I found that to be the case when I visited the luxurious Reluctant Panther Inn & Restaurant in Manchester, VT, where a cocktail created by one of the industry's top names is being challenged by the man in charge locally.

Then, we finish this month's collection with a new concoction from a trendy Manhattan watering hole.

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• The Reluctant Panther

This is the establishment's signature cocktail, created for it by Las Vegas-based mixology guru Tony Abou-Ganim. It fits in with owner Jerry Lavalley's penchant for grain-based vodkas.

1 1/2 ounces Belvedere vodka
1/2 ounce freshly- made lemon sour
1/2 ounce chambord
Champagne
Blackberries marinated in Grand Marnier

Combine vodka, lemon sour and chambord in a cocktail shaker with fresh ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Top off with champagne and drop in several of the berries.

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• Blueberry Fusion

Bar manager Josh Cohen came up with this spinoff drink that is giving the Reluctant Panther a run for the most-popular status at the inn.

1 1/2 ounces Stoli Blueberry vodka
1/2 ounce freshly-made lemon sour
1/2 ounce Blue curacao
Sprite
Fresh berries marinated in Grand Marnier

Combine vodka, lemon sour and curacao in a cocktail shaker with fresh ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with Sprite and drop in several of the berries. Note: Cohen says six hours is sufficient marinating time.

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• Ruby Manhattan

This drink was created by Michael Waterhouse of the Devin Tavern (363 Greenwich St.) in New York, substituting ruby port for the usual sweet vermouth.

2 ounces Michter's Rye Whiskey
1 1/2 ounces ruby port
Dash of Reagan's Orange Bitters
Orange twist
Maraschino cherry

Dash orange bitters into a chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze and treat the glass with orange twist. Build ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice. Stir 20 seconds and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with maraschino cherry and orange twist.

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Letters: What was that green stuff?

Bill:

While reading a recent "Dowd on Drinks," it suddenly occurred to me that your encyclopedic knowledge of adult beverages might be able to solve a 25-year-old mystery.

Long before Sebastian's bar in Latham, NY, became a strip club, it was a popular hangout for employees of Factron, an electronics manufacturer. Sometime in the early 1980s, I was wasting oxygen there with a bevy of co-workers, chatting with the barmaid.

As we were still young and foolish instead of just foolish, we were discussing the various bottles of alcoholic beverages visible behind the bar. This led to taste-testing, conducted without benefit of scientific reasoning, or, for that matter, without much reasoning at all.

In a rather non-prominent place was a bottle containing a bright green liquid, and somebody asked what it was. The barmaid, acting somewhat surprised that it was there, said she had no idea. She took down the dust-coated bottle and we passed it around. It had a brand name (which of course I cannot remember), but none of us, including the barmaid, had ever heard of it.

We tasted it. It was rather sweet but might be good as a minor ingredient in certain cocktails. More importantly, all agreed that its taste was something we had experienced before. Yet we could not identify it. Suddenly someone shouted "Circus peanuts!" Everyone else said "That's it!" as we remembered the orange marshmallow-like confections we had occasionally consumed as children.

Every now and then, I wonder what that beverage was. Circus peanuts have a distinctive flavor, but I don't know what that flavor is.

Any thoughts?

Michael D. Trout, Selkirk, NY

Michael:

I love a good mystery, and this one is particularly intriguing.

"Circus peanuts" are made by four different companies (no one ever bothered trademarking the name), so the ingredients might vary slightly from one manufacturer to another. However, they are marshmallows made of sugar, corn syrup or high-fructose cporn sweetener plus gelatin, pectin, maybe even soy powder and some color plus a bit of artificial flavoring.

I suspect it's the latter element that piques the curiosity and may cauise some differences of opinion. Melster, Brach’s, Farley and Spangler are the four manufacturers, and Melster makes many of the candies for other brands.

Candy aficionadoes have often remarked that Circus Peanuts, while of indeterminate flavor, usually are most like banana. Using that as a basis, the closest I can come to banana flavor and a green liqueur -- without it actually being banana-infused -- is, ta da!, Chartreuse Green. (I rule out creme de menthe since you made no mention of a minty smell or taste in your mystery liquid.)

Chartreuse Green (there is a yellow version as well) is one of those ancient potions created by 16th century monks -- in this instance the Carthusian order located near Grenoble, France -- who didn't have anything better to do. It's a 110-proof liqueur made up of 130 plant ingredients, and the precise recipe and proces usually are known to only two monks at a time as a security measure.

While it can be mixed in a cocktail, to get the true experience Chartreuse should be chilled and sampled on the rocks.

(See Michael's response under "Comments.")

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