Last night, I was playing around with some cocktail recipes (as you should also be doing), and came up with one I thought was really tasty: rum, St-Germain, and Aperol. Robust and complex, bitter and sweet at the same time, I was a big fan. Nole was…less than enthused. So I tweaked one ingredient, replacing the Aperol with a sweeter orange liqueur, and voilà! A whole new drink that Nole loved; light and sweet, floral and fruity, with just the right amount of kick. Consider this his and hers drinks, together an ode to the cocktail, that beautiful concoction that’s always changing to suit your tastes or your moods. Goes to show you, there’s always a perfect drink out there for you. – Andrew

Illustration by Caitlin Keegan for Oh So Beautiful Paper

His and Hers St-Germain Cocktails

His:

1 1/2 oz Dark Rum
3/4 oz St-Germain
3/4 oz Aperol

Combine everything with lots of ice, stir well, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist and enjoy!

Hers:

1 1/2 oz Dark Rum
3/4 oz St-Germain
3/4 oz Orange Liqueur
1/4 oz Lime Juice

Combine everything with lots of ice, shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist and enjoy!

 

Both of these cocktails are very similar, using a rich, dark rum as their base and adding the floral, fruity sweetness of St-Germain. But they end up very different. His has a deep, dark red color that matches its oaky, bittersweet flavors. It gets a lof of its character from matching the rum and St-Germain with Aperol, a light, orange-flavored Italian Amaro, that highlights the rich flavors of the aged rum and the more complex floral notes of the St-Germain. Hers is light and sweet, with lots of fruity sweetness from the St-Germain and citrus from the orange liqueur (and just a bit of acid from the lime juice to balance all that sweetness). They satisfy very different tastes (or hankerings), even though they’re nearly the same drink, swapping an orange Amaro for an orange Cointreau. But that’s how this whole thing works, right?

 

These names are a bit of a misnomer, and there’s no reason why men can’t enjoy the sweeter, more citrusy drink, or women the darker, more bitter drink. (I actually enjoyed both of them, though Nole has a much lower tolerance for the bitterness of Aperol than me). So give both a try, then play around with your own combinations.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

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