Leap Frog

I made a Leap Frog last night. 

I was inspired when I read about it in the PDT Cocktail Book. This is one I was going to make during one of our test runs. 

It kind of slipped my mind recently, because of all the other cocktails we were making and trying to perfect the cocktails we already know and love. 

Yesterday evening I was looking for something new to make. Whilst Oskar was reading in Intoxica, he suddenly stopped at the Leap Frog and said "Weren't you going to make this one?!". "Yes, yes I was old sport."

Straight away I started making the Leap Frog as Oskar was summing up every ingredient. 

I made it, shaked it, poured it in a glass. I liked it. 

Here's what's in it:

- 1 ounce lime Juice

- 1 1/2 ounces apricot brandy

- teaspoon of grenadine

- 1 1/2 ounce white rum

All ingredients in a shaker, shake well with crushed ice. 

Pour into a coupe glass (I don't have that, so it was a martini glass for me)

Whilst I was reading Intoxica to find out more about this cocktail, That's when I saw it. This cocktail needs a teaspoon of grenadine. Oskar failed to mention this to me. Either way, I liked it. Instead of making a new one, I added a teaspoon of grenadine and let it drop to the bottom of the glass. Which gave it a nice effect, but wouldn't of been nice at the end of drinking it. Too sweet, one thinks. 

Once the grenadine was added, this cocktail made even more sense.

Sour enough, because of the lime, but sweet enough with the grenadine and apricot brandy. 

Normally I'm not a big fan of cocktails with a specific dominant taste. But my G.O.D. this one gets a seal of approval.

Before writing about this cocktail, I did some research. I like to find out about it's history, when in fact, some cocktails have no real history to tell. This one was created around the 1940's in the Camellia House of the Drake Hotel, Chicago. Not too fancy, right? 

Anyway, during my research (read: drinking a beer in a public place whilst there's a beautiful girl sitting not too far from me, distracting) I found out there's several different ones to be found amongst the leapfrogs. I have three books with me and all three have something completely different. whilst mine has rum, the other two have gin, one of those two adds mint. 

My next attempt when making the Leapfrog will be the PDT version. 

I'm not going two write about it just yet, but I will give you the ingredients. Let you decide which one you prefer, and could make yourself.

- 2 ounce plymouth gin

- .75 ounce lemon juice

- .5 apricot brandy

- .25 simple syrup

- 2 dashes orange bitters

- 6 mint leaves

Muddle the mint with the simple syrup. Add everything else, shake with ice and fine strain in a coupe glass.

Cheers!

Niklas

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