Oh sage can you see

Art in the Age's Sage is phenomenal, but the complexity of its flavors presents a challenge for the nascent mixologist.

And as we already know, I am not particularly savvy when it comes to creating cocktails.

If provided with a recipe, I can whip up a mean concoction.

Left to my own devices, however, I yield some fairly rank outcomes.

In a reversal of how I often approach ideas for this blog (capricious approaches to infusions, ill-advised liquor combinations), I thought critically about Sage.

What do I like about Sage? It's herbaceous. In recent years, I have found that I love herbaceous liquors and liqueurs.

What other liquors are herbaceous but lack the lightness of Sage? That is, what are some "heavy" herbaceous liquors that would balance out the flavor profiles? Drambuie, Bénédictine.

I took a shot glass and began mixing miniature combinations: always one part Sage (because I wanted it to be the more prominent flavor) and reduced parts of other liquors. I even splashed around some simple syrup, orgeat, Cointreau in the mix. The kitchen looked like a chemistry experiment that eventually yielded:

Cocktail overlooking Lower Lawrenceville

I call it the Oh Sage Can Your See. Because that's funny to me.

• 1 oz Sage
• 1/2 oz Drambuie
• 3 oz club soda
• Fresh sage

In a lowball, combine first three ingredients and stir, don't shake. Add ice cubes. Take a fresh leaf of sage and smack it in your palm to wake up the scent. Float on top of drink.

And the results? It wasn't mind-blowing, but it wasn't a devastating blow to my ego.

The licorice undertones of Drambuie are really pulled out by the Sage. In fact, it tasted a bit like I put a drop of Pernod in the cocktail (something I would never do because we all know by now that Pernod is literally the worst shit in the world). If anything, I would argue that Sage and Drambuie marry almost too well: the cancel each other out and produce a new liquor that just tastes like lots of herbs in club soda. 

What's really nice is that the drinker smells the fresh sage, which has a totally different scent than the taste of the drink. So your olfactory is tantalized in one capacity, but your tastebuds experience something entirely new. 

Would I make it again? Maybe. But I think Sage is better when it's festooned with ingredients that capitalize on its complexity instead of distracting from it.