Drink Doctrine

Continuing my love affair with gin, this week I look in the direction of another classic variant on the martini, the Silver Bullet. Some would argue this is no new cocktail in itself, just a twist on the classic gin martini, either way I must say from the outset that the name for this cocktail is simply one of the best, it conjures up so many images and perceptions, to the uneducated martini drinker you’re thinking what you might receive on the other end of your order from the friendly barkeep. Another reason why this cocktail gets my attention is it features two of my biggest loves – gin and scotch – though not in equal measures, they are in the same glass… there is a god.

In ancient folklore a silver bullet is seen as the only firearm worth mustering against a werewolf, witch or any other evil monster found lurking in your liquor cabinet, in modern conversation its phrase and use has become a metaphor for getting the job done, the straightforward solution to a problem, the quick fix. Fortunately for gin drinkers out there this much underated cocktail requires little prep time and most of us would have the ingredients at home to mix one up. Not to be confused with the Smokey martini, which at least in Australia often sees vodka thrown into the mix instead of gin + a heady peated malt, if this is to be seen as a gin martini twist let’s at least keep it with gin for the sake of argument. Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail book, first published in 1930, also features a drink by the same name where he stakes a recipe featuring 2 parts gin, 1 part kummel & 1 part lemon juice. I find this recipe to be too dominated by the citrus notes, the wonderful kummel gets a little lost amongst it all, also too I feel this recipe may have fallen out of favour due to the difficulty in some parts of the world to actually find kummel liqueur.

My recipe for the modern day Silver Bullet is as prescribed,

2oz Tanqueray London dry gin
1.5 barspoons of Talisker 10yr old
lemon twist (for garnish)
prepare & serve as per usual gin martini,
replacing the vermouth with the scotch
(but leaving the scotch in, not simply a wash!)

I emphasize above the need to keep the scotch in, it’s not there to simply coat some ice and be discarded, that would be an insult to Talisker (and other fine malts). Like in the case of vermouth, if you’re going to bother using it at least keep it in. I chose to use the Talisker 10yr old expression as it’s a fiery one of course, full of pepperry sweetness and with a full nose of smoke, but lacks the pungent peatiness that you do get from some other coastal malts. Enjoy this in between slaying your wolves… cheers!

Silver Bullet