Cocktail Recipe: Monte Carlo
Old Fashioneds and Manhattans top the list of my favorite whiskey cocktails. But recently, they’ve become eclipsed by my growing fondness for the Monte Carlo. Made with rye whiskey, Bénédictine, and bitters with an orange twist, the Monte Carlo is a refreshing option for the whiskey cocktail lover.
I decided to pick up a bottle of Bénédictine on a whim. For those who don’t know, Bénédictine is a herbal liquor that hails from France. It was originally developed in the late 1800s from old medicinal recipes acquired from a religious foundation. Even back then, founder Alexandre Le Grand realized that made for an uninteresting origin story. So in order to market it, he generously revised it to a more exciting tale where monks at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy developed the luscious liquer and produced it until the abbey's destruction during the French Revolution.
While Bénédictine is a terrific ingredient in a cocktail, I find that it also tastes good on its own. Personally, I pick up on a strong taste of honey with hints of orange peel, vanilla, and hyssop. Bénédictine is actually made up of 27 separate ingredients, but only 21 are publicly known and the rest remain closely guarded.
As for the Monte Carlo, little is known of its origin. According to Reddit user hebug, a popular poster who runs the nCOTW column on r/cocktails, the first documented case of the Monte Carlo was in the 1948 book, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embury. The drink is often portrayed as a variation on the Manhattan, but similar to hebug, I find that it feels more like a great alteration to the Old Fashioned and enjoying mixing it directly in a glass as opposed to shaking it as most recipes dictate.
The original recipe calls for a 2:1 ratio of rye whiskey to Bénédictine but modern takes scale the Bénédictine back to 4:1. Personally, I enjoy the sweetness that Bénédictine brings (I also enjoy my drinks boozier), which is why I stick to the 2:1 ratio.
Deo Optimo Maximo!
Monte Carlo
Servings: 1
INGREDIENTS:
2 OZ rye whiskey
1 OZ Bénédictine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Orange peel garnish
Glass: Old Fashioned
INSTRUCTIONS:
Add the bitters to the glass, followed by Bénédictine and whiskey
Add a nice big piece of ice
Stir for 20 seconds
Garnish with orange peel