The Ruby

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We named this cocktail after the fantastic bar in Copenhagen where we discovered it.  Having made our way through their menu of forgotten cocktails – flips, punches and a real Martinez – we asked the barman to make us something with dill aquavit.  Dill aquavit was on our shopping list as we knew it was traditional to serve at Christmas, and we were planning a Danish Christmas feast for one of our Secret Kitchen dinners in London. 

The barman’s creation was a revelation – distinctly dilly, pink with grapefruit but most certainly a proper grown-up cocktail.  (He called it an ‘866’, but we never found out why…)  This is our own version, and the addition of grapefruit bitters is ours; you could leave it out.  We recommend serving this with pickled herring on thin slices of rye bread.

Recipe:  Ruby cocktail.pdf

2 parts pink grapefruit juice
1 part dill aquavit (Schumachers and Esrum Sø are especially good ones)
1 part Campari
grapefruit bitters (eg Bittermens)
a pink grapefruit
ice

1. Chill your cocktail glasses by filling them with ice.  Empty, then wipe the rims with a lozenge of grapefruit zest which you have crushed to release its oils.  Dip the glasses in salt to create a lightly salted rim. 
2. Shake the pink grapefruit juice, dill aquavit and Campari with ice until well-chilled and frothy.  Add in a shake of grapefruit bitters per person, if using.
3. Pour the cocktail into your prepared glasses through a fine-meshed sieve so as not to get any of the small shards of ice.  If you like, garnish with twists of grapefruit zest, taking care to spray their fragrant essential oils over the surface of the cocktail.

Read more about cocktails here…