Cocktail: Test Pilot

Someone, and I can't remember just who, asked me what was new and (potentially) exciting the other day, to which I responded: Not a damned thing.

Which is a real blessing.  I have enough drama in my life already.  I don't need more.

All that being the case, Big Mike passed me a recipe for an unusual cocktail about a week ago.  Upon reading this latest formula for inducing an alcoholic haze, I wondered aloud if my chain wasn't being pulled.

I finally got the ingredients assembled.  Keep reading.

Test Pilot Cocktail Ingredients

This cocktail is called a Test Pilot.  Here's the recipe, tried, tested, and approved:

• 1.50 oz Myer's rum
• 0.75 oz Bacardi white rum
• 0.50 oz lime juice
• 0.50 oz falernum
• 1 TBSP Cointreau
• 6 drops Pernod
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

I used to have a bottle of Pernod somewhere.  I think I inherited it from my father; I remember the top was stuck on and the bottle was dusty.  I like a shot of Pernod once in a great while, but this bottle is easily a five year supply - unless you're nuts about it, and some people are.







The rum is easy, as is the lime juice and the angostura bitters.  But just what the hell is this falernum business?

First off, given that most of you guys move your lips when you think, you're probably saying it wrong.  It's pronounced fə-LUR-nəm; not fal-ur-num.  It's an alcoholic syrup imported (or, more likely, smuggled in) from the Caribbean, and it has ginger, lime, almond, cloves and allspice in it.  Think of it as orgeat syrup on steroids.

Assemble the ingredients in the proportions listed, and do not give me a hard time about the 6 drops business.  The last time I ever used an eye-dropper I was mixing a dry martini.  I had to go out and buy one, and all I can say is that it was worth it.  No, I'm not kidding.  You put too much of that Pernod in anything and all you'll taste is Pernod.  If you skip the Pernod, the cocktail tastes like old antifreeze.

You can either run this business through a blender (use 8 ounces of crushed ice), or use ice cubes and shake it up in a cocktail shaker, which is what I did.  Don't over mix this one; just shake it and pour it into a tall glass or Tikki mug.  Add ice cubes to bring it to the top.

This is more trouble to make than a French 75, and it's never going to be my favorite cocktail.  However, it really is worth making.  Try it for yourself and see.