Facebook Memories regularly remind me of things I posted years ago—which isn’t always a great feeling, by the way. Today, though, FB dug up a cocktail I came up with and posted three years ago today at the very beginning of the Great Pandemic, along with the YouTube video I made to demonstrate and explain it. 

There was a meme circulating on social media around then, quipping that the “Quarantini” was the same as one’s usual Martini, except that one drinks it at home. For *some* reason (oh, what could that be?) a dozen or more of my friends thought I’d find that amusing, so they all sent it to me—just as dozens of my friends tagged me for years in posts of dogs in cone-of-shame Martini costumes. (Pro tip for dog owners recycling this gag: The olives on a pick in a Martini go IN the glass, because physics… .)

The Quarantini joke was cute but uninventive. If you’re going to give a cocktail a different name, by God, make it a different cocktail! So I did, and here it is.

If I say so myself, it’s a tasty mix that deserves regular revisiting, pandemic or no pandemic. Besides, if we should have learned one thing over the past three years, it’s that we should be constantly prepared for the *next* pandemic. You’re welcome.

MARTY’S QUARANTINI
2 oz Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin (or other tea-infused gin)
¾ oz Yellow Chartreuse
¾ oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
¼ oz Extra Dry Vermouth
1 oz (or so) Connemara Peated Single Malt Irish Whiskey (or other peated single malt)

In a shaker at least half full of ice, “wash” the ice with the peated single malt whiskey—i.e., pour in the whiskey, cover, and shake the ice with it—then pour it off and discard it. Or drink it; waste not, want not! Transfer the ice to a mixing glass. Stir the other ingredients with the whiskey-washed ice until well chilled, then strain the mix into a chilled Martini glass or coupe. Garnish the cocktail with a flamed lemon peel.

See the accompanying YouTube video for a complete demonstration.