Selling almost two times as many as any other signature cocktail on the menu at Little Bird Bistro is the Old Fashioned Fumée, bar manager John Peterson’s specialty.
Even though it has old fashioned in its name, it was more inspired by a classic Toronto, Peterson says of the similarly styled drink that features Canadian whiskey. “We wanted to do something that was maybe a little bit smoky, had the chocolatey depth to it but still was stringent enough to go with food,” he says.
With that, Peterson mixed bourbon, Fernet Branca and Bénédictine with a house-made simple syrup from Stash Tea’s smoky Chinese Lapsang Souchong tea, and the result neared perfection.
“It has that tea flavor which has a nice constringency, but a really nice warm smokiness to it as well,” the bartender adds. “And then it still was missing something.”
Bénédictine and a house-made simple syrup from was chosen to accentuate the cocktail with a beautiful lemon verbena flavor, which adds a bit of acidity.
“I was shocked that people took to it,” Peterson admits. “It literally sells twice the amount of all the other cocktails, even if it’s summertime.”
Although making the cocktail isn’t too difficult, the tricky part is making the simple syrup. Luckily for us, Peterson shares his recipe for both the cocktail and syrup to make his cocktail that could be just as popular from your home bar.
“I love it,” he says of his creation. “It’s funny because it sounds like it’d be overwhelming, but it’s really just a combination of tea with the other ingredients that finishes nice, and it makes you want to drink it.”
Old Fashioned Fumée by John Peterson, Little Bird
Makes 1 cocktail
1½ ounces Old Grand-Dad Bourbon
¾ ounce Fernet Branca
½ ounce Lapsang Souchong tea-infused syrup (recipe follows)
¼ ounce Bénédictine
Garnish: fresh lemon zest
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, stir and pour over a large ice cube in a rocks glass. Garnish with a zest of lemon.
Lapsang Souchong tea-infused syrup
Makes 1 cup
9 grams Lapsang Souchong tea leaves
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the tea leaves and let steep for 15 minutes. After steeping, strain, then add desired sugar, stirring to dissolve. Allow to cool before use.
