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Nurse

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Photo by Doron Gild

I dubbed this aperitif the Nurse thanks to its restorative quality for a hangover I woke up with after visiting Noilly Prat’s production facility in Marseillan, France in 2015.

The wine base of Noilly Prat dry vermouth’s original formula is barrel-aged for over two years before the botanicals are added, which yields one of the most complex aromatized wines in the world. I was blown away by Noilly Prat’s versatility as a food pairing with the traditional cuisine of the region (oysters and shellfish) when I visited. Instead of serving it with a lemon as they do in Marseillan, I prefer a cucumber slice to enhance the botanicals and lend melony notes.

Hacks:

The “extra dry” formula of Noilly Prat dry vermouth is made from a wine base that isn’t barrel-aged and lacks the nutty, oxidized notes of the original formula. For the photo, we cut the cucumber wheels into crosses to allude to the cocktail’s “medicinal value.”

Ingredients

3 oz. Noilly Prat dry vermouth
1 oz. club soda
Garnish: 1 cucumber wheel

Preparation

  1. Build in a chilled wine glass filled with ice. Garnish with the cucumber wheel.

Photo of Meehan's Bartender Manual book cover
Reprinted with permission from Meehan’s Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan, copyright © 2017 by Mixography Inc. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Buy the full book from Amazon.

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