Cocktail Recipe – Unfinished Business Cocktail by Teardrop Lounge, Portland Oregon
Recently, and by recently, I mean over a month ago, a kind reader to our humble corner of the boozernet asked a simple question. Her name is Elena and she had been reading our piece on the Spring 2011 cocktail menu from Teardrop Lounge in Portland, Oregon. About two thirds down the list of their house cocktail menu was a drink described as “devilishly pleasant, elegantly fierce” that caught her eye. Called the “Unfinished Business” she was intrigued and quickly shot off a comunique to our vast editorial department asking if we might obtain the actual recipe. A simple request to Daniel Shoemaker of the Teardrop was all it took.
The Unfinished Business Cocktail from Teardrop Lounge
As a brief aside, everyone I have had contact with at the Teardrop Lounge have been top shelf in their own right. Beyond their great cocktails and unique lounge space I have always found their people convivial, talented and eager to share. This is yet one more brick in my foundational belief that the best bars have the best people well before they pour their best drinks. It also reinforces the notion that a main trait in a great bartender is an eagerness to share. Daniel, thank you for sharing this little number.
As for the drink Daniel writes:
We had a drink in the early stages of development that wasn’t working; a couple of the ingredients were fighting against one another. When we ran up to the deadline for the release of the menu, we streamlined the ingredients, down to the bare bones, but with Laird’s bonded applejack as the base. We put it on the menu as a great drink, but soon enough we tried it with gin when trying out a Dealer’s choice calling for such. A light shone from the heavens, and the name was born (because you can always make something better). Hope that helps. Cheers, Daniel.
The Unfinished Business Cocktail
Ingredients
2 oz Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength Gin
3/4 oz. Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz. Bonal Gentian Aperitif
16 drops kumquat-cinnamon bitters (possible to sub Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters, but Agnostura will also work in a pinch)
LIGHT dash agave nectar
Absinthe to flame over the top
Method
Combine all ingredients in an empty cocktail shaker and stir well to combine. Strain over a large ice cube into the chilled cocktail glass. Flame absinthe over the top and serve.
Once again, Elena, thank you for your question and Daniel, thank you for sharing your talent and inspiration.
If there is a cocktail recipe at a bar that you would like to find the recipe for please let us know. We will certainly give it a try. Send your request to mixpoursip@gmail.com and we will send out the dogs. Also, if you are a bartender with a drink and story that you would like to share, by all means, share away.
Cheers!
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Tags: Bonal Gentian Aperitif, Cocchi Americano, Cocktail Recipe, Martin Millers Westbourne Strength Gin, Portland, Teardrop Lounge
Tim! I just found this and am thrilled that you were able to get this recipe. And thanks too to Daniel for providing it. The Teardrop is our mecca any time we get to Portland. Coincidentally, we just scored a bottle of Miller’s Westbourne yesterday, hard to come by lately in our neck of the woods in Washington where things are still in turmoil. We look forward to enjoying one tonight as we seem to have all other ingredients in hand. Thank you again for following up. You rock! Elena.
I am so glad you are happy! Let me know if there are other drinks from other bars you might want the recipe for and I will see what I can do.