Mixology Monday LXVII: Garnish Grandiloquence

It's time for another Mixology Monday! This month's event is hosted by Joseph Tkach over at Measure & Stir. The theme is Garnish Grandiloquence - my one weakness. If you haven't noticed, I don't tend to go in for garnishes very often, despite my love of tiki. Especially because 9/10 I'm making drinks for myself, I care much more about how the drink tastes than how its presented. But for once, I'll make the effort to throw in a little flair.

Mekhong Southern Thai Swizzle
1.25 oz Mekhong
0.75 oz dark falernum
1 oz palm sugar syrup
1 oz lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes orange bitters

Build over ice, swizzle until the glass frosts, then garnish with several sprigs of mint.

The smell of the mint garnish meshed beautifully with the vanilla and spice of the spirits along with some funk from the palm sugar - I could sit and smell this one for a long time. The sip is sweet & sour, with the lime just edging out the syrups, while the falernum's ginger and the bitters team up at the back to give the drink a serious kick. The Mekhong provides a peculiar twist, giving the drink a slightly vegetal edge from the rice component of the spirit.

This drink is a small tweak on a recipe from Imbibe, substituting palm sugar for simple syrup and tweaking a couple of proportions to make the drink more spirit-forward. The result is fairly aggressive, but definitely tasty.

Thanks again to Joseph for hosting and see you all again next MxMo!