St. Agrestis · Cocktail library
A Moment of Silence
A stirred rye drink with apricot liqueur, Averna and a measured half ounce of Angostura, served in a rocks glass with a Campari rinse.
Go to the recipe ↓A Moment of Silence is a stirred drink built on rye, with apricot liqueur, Averna, a small measure of bonded apple brandy, and a full 15 ml (1/2 oz) pour of Angostura bitters. Measure the bitters with a jigger, not in dashes. It is strained over fresh ice into a rocks glass seasoned with Campari or another red bitter and finished with an orange twist. The published versions use the same proportions. The real choice is where the Campari goes: on the empty chilled glass before the ice, or over the ice already in the glass.
Difford's Guide: rinse the glass first
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Chill an old-fashioned glass and prepare an orange zest twist.
- Pour the red bitter liqueur into the chilled glass, swirl it to coat the inside, discard the excess and set the glass aside.
- Combine the rye, apricot liqueur, amaro, Angostura and applejack in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
- Strain into the rinsed glass filled with ice.
- Express the orange twist over the drink and add it as garnish.
Garnish Orange zest twist, expressed over the drink
- The rye is specified at 100 proof (50% alc./vol.), and the applejack is bottled-in-bond (50% alc./vol.).
- The apricot liqueur is Luxardo Apricot Albicocca. The amaro is listed generically, with Averna as an example.
- The red bitter liqueur is listed generically at 5 ml. Because the excess is discarded, the listed 5 ml is not the amount left in the finished drink.
Recipe source: Difford's Guide ↗
Punch: rinse the ice
Contains alcohol
Ingredients
Original recipe quantities.
See the proportions
Share of the measured liquid, before ice. Unmeasured additions and non-volume ingredients are excluded.
Method as published
- Fill a rocks glass with ice, then rinse the ice with Campari.
- Combine the rye, apricot liqueur, Averna, Angostura and apple brandy in a mixing glass with ice, and stir until chilled.
- Strain into the prepared rocks glass.
Garnish Orange twist
- Campari is listed for the rinse without a measured amount, so it does not scale with the other lines.
- Marie Brizard Apry is the preferred apricot liqueur, and Laird's Bonded is the preferred apple brandy. The rye's proof is not specified.
Recipe source: PUNCH ↗
Where the Campari goes
Both recipes use rye, apricot liqueur, amaro, Angostura and apple brandy in the same 6:4:2:2:1 proportion. Difford's gives the measures in millilitres and Punch gives them in ounces. Difford's rinses the empty chilled glass, pours off the excess, and then strains the drink over ice. Punch puts the ice in first and rinses the ice itself with Campari, and it gives no instruction to discard any excess. The Cocktail Virgin write-up also calls for ice seasoned with Campari, which matches Punch's order.
The named bottles also differ. Difford's specifies Luxardo's apricot liqueur and 50% rye and applejack, and it leaves both the red bitter and the amaro generic. Punch names Campari and Averna, prefers Marie Brizard Apry and Laird's Bonded, and does not specify the proof of the rye.