At Small Victory in Austin, Texas, bar manager Laura Maddox and her staff are constantly flipping through old cocktail books looking for a hidden gem. A couple of years ago, a potentially delicious, though strange, drink in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book jumped out: the Brunelle. The original recipe calls for a hefty dose of lemon juice fortified and flavored with absinthe, sweetened with sugar, shaken and served in a cocktail glass. “It definitely piqued our interest because we were like, Oh, big lemon cocktail!” says Maddox. “It was a really unique build, so we all wanted to see what it tasted like.” It was a hit.
After trying the classic recipe, the bar ultimately adjusted it to a ratio of two parts lemon to one part each of absinthe and simple syrup. At first, they stayed true to The Savoy’s recipe and served it in a coupe, but eventually, they decided to serve their version as a frappé, in a double rocks glass, to differentiate the drink from others on the menu with similar glassware, ice and presentations.
For a history-driven program like Small Victory’s, the choice to “frappé” this drink—in this case, to shake it and serve it over pebble ice—felt natural because of the Gilded Age popularity of the Absinthe Frappé. Maddox serves the cocktail with a lemon wedge, so that guests can add yet more lemon to their drink if they so choose.
While some might be intimidated by working with a classic starring absinthe, Maddox and her staff are more than comfortable with it. “We’re big absinthe people,” she says, remarking that their house recipe compendium boasts upward of 70 drinks containing the spirit, which has the unique power to both act as base spirit and lend nuanced herbal flavors to cocktails.
Maddox says that Small Victory’s house mixing absinthe, Vieux Pontarlier from Tempus Fugit, offers a classic, big-wormwood flavor profile, while also lending historical accuracy with its 19th-century production methods. It’s produced in Pontarlier, France, once a capital of absinthe production, using a pre-ban recipe and true-to-period alembic stills. “It’s cool to be able to drink a Brunelle that’s very similar to what they would have tasted like at the time,” she says.
Though staff members at Small Victory are true devotees of absinthe drinks, guests can find the spirit intimidating, partially given the many misconceptions about its history and purported hallucinogenic powers. In the Brunelle, Maddox sees an opportunity to get people to engage with the maligned spirit. According to her, “It’s a really safe, fun, tasty, easy-to-drink way to taste absinthe.”
Bolstering the cocktail’s approachability factor is its low ABV. Maddox’s recipe calls for a modest three-quarter-ounce measure of absinthe, which lands it squarely on the menu’s low-proof section alongside cocktails like the Bamboo.
There’s a magic in the Brunelle’s construction that opens up the spirit. Absinthe typically boasts an ABV between 65 and 70 percent and needs plenty of dilution to bring out its complex flavors, which is why an ice-water drip—traditionally done using an absinthe fountain, absinthe spoon and sugar cube rested on a small glass—has long been used to prepare the spirit for consumption. The frappé method achieves a similar result. But with the Brunelle, says Maddox, the citrus adds another element that makes it hard to put down. “It’s one of those drinks that you just wanna slurp down in one sip because it’s almost salty from all of that lemon juice in there—it really gets your palate going,” she says.
Though the Brunelle hails from one of the most famous cocktail books of all time, you’d be hard-pressed to find any other bars that are making it. At Small Victory, however, the deep cut fits neatly into the program, demonstrating the merits of a drink that features an antiquated construction. “[The Brunelle] offers a unique ratio of ingredients,” says Maddox, “and the opportunity to step outside of current contemporary trends and taste a historic flavor.”
