Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Portland Calling Cocktail Recipe

A variation on the gin-and-sherry cocktail, the Portland Calling relies on the unlikely pairing of French elderflower liqueur, dry, vegetal Spanish sherry, and single malt whiskey to build layers of floral, fruity, and spicy flavors. Where the London Calling follows a basic sour format, the Portland Calling shows you how to complement flavors without doubling down on them, using the musky botanical sweetness of elderflower liqueur to further unite the two base spirits.

Elderflower blossoms, the small white flowers of the elderberry plant gathered in the French alps, can be steeped in simple syrup with lemon to become a non-alcoholic elderflower cordial; the addition of grain alcohol like gin or vodka to the distilling process creates the French liqueur seen in most elderflower cocktail recipes—mixed in with a sparkling wine like prosecco or Champagne, topped with club soda, or used alongside spirits with complex, spiky profiles, like tequila or mezcal. Combined with lime juice and gin, it rounds out a French gimlet.