It’s a beautiful day outside. Snow has been falling for hours. The gentle blanket is at this point becoming a mattress, soon to be an oversized pillow top. The sun is bright whenever the snowfall lessens, it is cold enough for snow but not so cold to be uncomfortable. With so much snow about, one is compelled to slow down, because so many plans and tasks are clearly undoable. Snow games and warm drinks. Happiness and cocoa.
It’s a great day for L’Or de Torrente.
L’Or is flowers with a generous dash of Torani syrup. To me, the syrup is chocolate. Officially, the note is coffee, but I think the combination of vanilla/coffee/angelica/”white amber” has more of an overall chocolate effect.
In fact, if I were doing a pairings, I’d be finding the right chocolate liqueur, and offering that up as a potential member of the flight that accompanies L’Or. You might want to include a special cocktail, blended with a floral and a chocolate. Good old St. Germaine comes to mind; given the fruit notes listed in L’Or, the edible quality of elderflower, and its brightness, are a good companion to that part of the equation. There’s a nice chocolate liqueur, Alumni,* that would do well for that end, though for a third concoction in the flight you could use Kahlua and probably come up with the right concept.
I disagree with Luca Turin, who called L’Or de Torrente a Negroni. A Negroni is gin, campari, vermouth, twist of lemon. I get the lemon, but the Campari is the wrong nose-feel/mouth-feel. Too bitter, too sharp on the tongue. Needs to be a liqueur that hangs out a bit, in the vein of Drambuie or Cuarenta Y Tres. And I quibble with gin, though if you are using a Hendrick’s type, it could work. (Still, the mouth-feel/nose-feel is not thick enough for my experience of L’Or.)
It’s a snow day around here. Perky, but with warm comfort. Try some L’Or de Torrente to go with. Playing in the snow is free; L’or is a veritable bargain, under $30 for 1.7oz at a number of online retailers.
*Alumni may have gone out of production. Drop me a line if you’re in the neighborhood; I’ll pour you a snort and you can see for yourself.
