The Astoria | 4 down 271 to go

Lemon peel garnish

Next stop on our spirited tour of the 5 Boroughs (oy, that one hurt even me!), we sip the Astoria.  Yes,  Astoria is a part of Queens and so as far as the name goes is not on a nominal par with the Manhattan or the Bronx; but come on, you get the idea.  Doing a bit of research beyond H & M, it would appear Staten Island is the only Outer Borough without a namesake cocktail.  No comment.

With 4 parts gin, 1 part dry vermouth & a dash of orange bitters, this bev is shaken, not stirred.  H & M state that if orange bitters are not to be had one can substitute Grand Marnier, but it will be a bit sweeter.  I subbed a dash of Cointreau.  I also dashed Angosturas to be sure of some bitter counterpoint.  The pale, almost peachy hue was soothing on the eye.  There was some sweetness on the palate, but by the 3rd nip I was glad for the bitters and found it went down easily.  The Partner's face twisted at first.  To be fair, he had just brushed his teeth.  

Towards the bottom of the glass he thought the Astoria should get a mulligan when we have more orange bitters, less tooth paste, and more time.   That's fair.  We were late for a dinner res and I was pushing the whole cocktail thing.  Kid with a new toy.  While I should've waited, I'm glad I didn't.  We had an ah-ha moment at dinner as a result.  More on that later.