True fear is this: You’re at the bar, glancing at the menu, but none of the drinks sound appealing. You remember this one drink you read about recently, and words like bold, revolutionary, frightening pop in your head. “I’m a bold person,” you think to yourself! So you raise your hand proudly and exclaim, “I’ll have a Trinidad Sour please!” Wait… what is a Trinidad Sour? You’ve gotta tell the bartender how to make it! The phrase “one ounce of bitters” escapes your lips, and true fear falls upon your bartender’s face.

This oddball cocktail was created by Giuseppe Gonzalez in a place not quite as tropical as Trinidad: Brooklyn, NY. What scares people away and makes the drink popular is that the bitters themselves are the base of the drink. One full ounce, actually.  Bitters. As a base. Not whiskey, not rum, not gin. Bitters! Angostura bitters, to be exact.

Hailing from Trinidad, Angostura is extremely protective over their recipe. In fact, only five people in the world know it. And rumor has it, those 5 people are forbidden from traveling or eating together. Wondering if you’ve had them before? If you’ve ever ordered an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan, you certainly have!

The Trinidad Sour is an ode to the island’s impact in the cocktail world, so don’t let the bitters scare you! Definitely give it a try – it’s pretty tasty. But don’t tell anyone else that, let them think you’re bold and brave. Fortune favors the bold right?

INGREDIENTS
Ice
1 oz Angostura bitters
2 oz orgeat
1 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz rye whiskey
1 large egg white

DIRECTIONS
Combine the bitters, orgeat, lemon juice, rye whiskey and egg in a cocktail shaker; seal and perform a vigorous “dry shake” for 30 seconds, then add the ice. Shake again for 30 seconds, then divide evenly between two cocktail coupes.

Image: Flickr Creative Commons: Neil Girling