1.5 oz gin
0.75 oz honey ginger syrup
0.5 oz Fernet Branca
Stir, strain, old fashioned glass, orange peel for garnish.
I originally started out with only a half ounce of the honey ginger syrup, but the medicinal quality of the Fernet required more of something else, i.e. not Fernet, to balance it out. If you squeee the orange peel, it helps bring out some of the better flavors of the gin (I use New Amsterdam a lot, because I like the citrus notes) as well as complementing the ginger and honey. To tell the truth, it's getting better as I write. Will I buy a full-sized bottle of Fernet in the future? Who would do that to themselves? Will I use it to experiment with other liquors? I think so.
Honey-ginger syrup:
1 part honey
1 part water
Heat on stovetop until honey dissolves. Remove from heat, add peeled ginger. More ginger is better, as it's a bit difficult to extract flavor without high-proof alcohols. Let sit for a week, or preferably more, and keep it refrigerated.
