Northern Lights Cocktail | Adapted from the Oxo Tower

When visiting the Oxo Bar in London back in October I tried the Northern Light cocktail which is made from Ketel One vodka with a rinse of smokey Laphroaig 10 year malt, doused with Noilly Ambre and orange bitters. As noted in my original post, this is definitely a martini for smokey scotch lovers - there is enough Laphroig to bring out the smokiness and peatiness, but it is nicely "diluted" by the vodka and rounded out by the Noilly.

Now that winter is fully upon us, I thought I would try making a version of this at home. Noilly Ambre (which I don't have) is an aperatif somewhere between dry and sweet vermouth, so I used equal parts of Carpano Antica Formula and Vya Extra Dry Vermouth. I also substituted Stolichnaya Gold for Ketel One since that is what I drink at home.

Chill a martini glass (a small one, not one of the huge ones) and in a pint glass combine 10 parts vodka, 1 part vermouth combination and a couple of dashes of orange bitters - stir with a cocktail spoon. Rinse the 10 year Laphroaig in the cocktail glass and drain. Strain the cocktail into the martini glass and flame with an orange twist (okay since I didn't have an orange, I flamed at lemon twist).

This is a great winter cocktail - the smokiness, the orange, the woodsiness, but it is light too.