Eve Recipe

By
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke
Paul Clarke blogs about cocktails at The Cocktail Chronicles and writes regularly on spirits and cocktails for Imbibe magazine. He lives in Seattle, where he works as a writer and magazine editor.
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Updated February 06, 2022
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Before serving a big Thanksgiving meal, there are two things you want to avoid: getting your guests (or yourself) too giddy on generous pours of wine or scotch; and killing the palates of all the assembled guests by doling out rich, sweet pre-prandial ice-breakers that blunt, rather than enhance, the appetite.

Here's a way to avoid these related hazards, while still serving something creative that will help get the conversation flowing. Created by Audrey Saunders, co-owner of Pegu Club and the mind behind some of the best cocktails in current circulation, Eve relies wholly on a base of dry vermouth, its herbal flavor enhanced by a slow maceration of fresh apples. Lower in alcohol than a cocktail or a scotch on the rocks, and with a complexity of flavor that sets the stage for the meal to come, Eve has a delicate character perfectly suited for the season.

Recipe Details

Eve Recipe

Prep 15 mins
Steeping Time 120 hrs
Total 120 hrs 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 liter Noilly Prat Extra Dry vermouth (make sure it’s a fresh, unopened bottle)
  • 8 Macintosh apples
  • 1 crab apple, for garnish

Directions

  1. Using a mandolin, thinly slice the apples. Place the slices in a large jar and completely submerge with vermouth. Cover the jar and refrigerate for five days, gently agitating the mixture each day. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and rebottle, keeping the infusion refrigerated.

  2. To serve, pour four ounces of the flavored vermouth into a coupe glass (a kind of champagne saucer). Thinly slice the crab apple on a mandoline, and float a slice in each drink as garnish.

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