The Occasional Morning Alchemist

Yes, I work from home. Mondays are Bathrobe Mondays at the ol’ workplace, and when you work from home, EVERY day can be Bathrobe Monday. That said, it still requires discipline to get up, get ready for work, and then go to work, even if the office is two half-flights of stairs away.

This drink is pictured in the

Polka Dot  8.5  oz. Stemless

Champagne Flute, available on the

Contemporary Complements website.

Which means that every morning, I go by a bar on the way to work. It’s open for business that early, and the drinks are pretty reasonably priced. And I don’t stop, because one doesn’t show up to work impaired at 9(ish) in the morning. But every so often, on a weekend morning when I know I’m not going anywhere, and the futon on the back porch is calling, more often than not, this is what I pour.

I like my anise drinks. For this drink, you’d better as well, because there are only two ingredients here, and one of them is sambuca. I was first introduced to sambuca years ago at Gratzi’s in Ann Arbor. Originally envisioned as a testbed for Italian menu experimentation for the head chef of the Mainstreet Ventures chain, when they first opened, every meal ended with a complimentary shot of sambuca or ouzo. For our drink, we’re doing nothing fancy – just mixing it 1:1 with orange juice.

It works amazingly well – trust me on this. Sweet citrus, deep anise, and enough ice to keep it cool in the summer morning sun. I can’t say that I have this often, but when the morning commute allows me the luxury of a right turn at the back porch door, and I’ve got time for a quick stop on the way, there’s nothing better to help let the morning drift by.

Rick (non-shooter version)

3 oz. sambuca

3 oz. orange juice

Combine; pour over ice.