While searching for a cocktail to use my Sirop de Citron in I came across the Santa Fe Cocktail at 12 Bottle Bar. There I learned that they had done a variation on this cocktail substituting Sirop de Citron for lemon juice which is in the original recipe. For reference, here is the original recipe from the Playboy Bartender's Guide.
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1.5 oz brandy
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.5 oz grapefruit juice
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.5 oz dry vermouth
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1 tsp lemon juice
Shake well with ice. Strain into a prechilled sugar-rimmed cocktail glass.
Note the sugared rim (which I also found a reference to in Jones' Complete Barguide). I suspect the sugar is on the rim to counter the lemon juice which is not paired with a sweetener in the drink. This original recipe sounds very interesting and I will have to try it sometime. But I tried the 12 Bottle Bar variation with the following results.
At first I thought it was a little flat. Maybe it was my Sirop? It is homemade and seems to have plenty of zip to it. Or maybe my grapefruit juice?
I have found bitters almost always make cocktails better for me - especially when I can make grapefruit juice more interesting with it's namesake bitters from the Bitter Truth. This is a neat trick with a cocktail if you have a complementary bitters available.
Juice in a drink works in tropical or Tiki drinks, rocks or Boat drinks. Orange and grapefruit juice in a cocktail can flatten them out for me - it's just a personal thing. So a dash or two of orange or grapefruit bitters (respectively) snaps up these types of cocktails for me nicely. This is especially helpful in cocktails which consist of 3-5 oz of liquid that will warm rather quickly (warm juice - yuck).
So I have added grapefruit bitters to my variation of the Santa Fe Cocktail. Let me know what you think.