This is a case of a name being more tempting than the actual drink: the Gloom Raiser. For some reason this made me think of the Rainbow Brite movie I used to watch as a kid, where Murky and Lurky used to terrorize the pretty ponies.
Why? I have no idea.
For reasons that still escape me, the grenadine-pastis combo didn’t sound like a bad idea on paper, while the thought of cherry licorice makes my stomach pucker. I probably should have thought of that before breaking out the shaker.
2 oz gin
1 oz vermouth
2 dashes grenadine
2 dashes absintheShake ingredients and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
I don’t know where the name of the drink came from, but it certainly raised a certain amount of gloom around my kitchen. The licorice flavor combined with the grenadine and vermouth was a little bit abrasive and not nearly harmonious enough.
July 5th, 2005at 9:14 am(#)
If it tasted like anything but a martini, you used too much absinthe and grenadine. :)
Gloom Raiser is basically a gimmick martini, when you make it right. You start out with a standard martini, shake or stir and strain, add a dash of grenadine to turn it pink, give it another quick stir to make sure the color is distributed evenly, and then add a dash of absinthe on top to make it smell like anise. :)