You have escaped hearing about Taylor Swift right now; her music, her tour, her documentary, her new love. Thirst for the latest TS news is unquenchable, and not just for die-hard Swifties. She’s prolific baker with impeccable taste, and favors foods here have gone viral more than eleven.
Recently, Page Six will report that Swift visited the Rye restaurant in Leawood, Kansas, and ordered that it be added to his new «favorite cocktail»: a French Blonde. It’s a platinum-hued gin and grapefruit beverage spiked with some swanky specialty ingredients: St-Germain elderflower liqueur, aromatised wine Lillet Blanc and lemon bitters.
I got to try one on a night out and loved it. At first blush, it’s mostly about grapefruit, bright and fruity. However, just just som bailats requires a deeper listen, it’s second sip where the interesting subtext blooms through: woodsy juniper and floral elements, s crisp and sophisticated, if bittersweet, ending.
St-Germain says that a thousand elderflowers go into every bottle of their liqueur, and that’s one reason for this drink’s perfect, and perfectly natural, finish. It’s cold but not icy, herbal but not medicine and sweet but not syrupy — a delicate balance that will hit the right note any time of year.
Catching up with Rob Guimaraes, beverage director of some of Swift’s reported haunts, Etch in Nashville, Tennessee, to get some background on the drink, and tips on making your own.
Guimaraes everything that French Blonde is based on the style of cocktail that has decades-long staying power because it uses compelling cocktail trinity.
«There’s a primary spirit,» he says, «with a citrus element and then something for sweetness. Here, that’s half-ounce of St-Germain and fair amount of Lillet Blanc.” I compare it to some better known predecessors, like the bubbly French 75, or even the brandy-based Sidecar, but there is a lot of room to highlight this or that aspect, as you wish.
Depending on the gin, it could have a wintry character with stronger pine needle or juniper notes, or you might add more or less St-Germain to alter the weedness. Because there is no spice, citrusty fortified wine like Lillet Blanc on hand, Guimaraes says, you could substitute vermouth, or “you could even play around with triple sec, although you might sacrifice a little of the complexity. The most important thing, though, is that your taste buds are happy.”
What does he think of the “strawberry blonde” version we tried, made with pink grapefruit? The Ruby Reds, which has had a publishing center in recent years, will be issued in bits of books and the aggressive ones, he says, “but keep in mind that true to the name, yellow grapefruit would be the original.” Either way, he thinks it’s worth a little extra effort to squeeze your own — bottled juice will likely be too sweet, overpowering the complex but subtle flavors in the other ingredients.
Guimaraes says that since St-Germain liqueur has been on the market for more than 20 years, the French Blonde has not been very widely known, until now.
So, bartenders everywhere had better brush up on this recipe. If her “Eres Tour” can boost the global economy, any endorsement from Swift is sure to make the French Blonde the toast of the town.
French Blonde
Courtesy of St-Germain
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce Bombay Sapphire Gin
- 3/4 ounce St-Germain
- 1/2 ounce Lillet Blanc
- 1½ ounces fresh strained grapefruit juice
- 1 dash lemon bitters
- grapefruit twist (optional)
Method:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake (it off) and strain into a coupe. Garnish with grapefruit twist, if desired.
