Black Feather 2 ounces brandy 1 ounce dry vermouth 1/2 ounce Cointreau 1 dash of bitters Stir with ce. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Created by: Robert Hess (2000)

Black Feather
I don't normally go out of my way to invent a new cocktail, but I made an exception in this case.

I'm building a quaint little bar into my new house, and felt that I needed to have a personal cocktail that would be one of its signature drinks. Since the overall motif of the house is French, this meant that the cocktail should in some way reflect this in its ingredients.

The base spirit of course would most likely need to be Brandy, but what additional ingredients should be used for the flavor enhancers? After some brief experiments with Pernod, Lillet, Chartreuse, I decided to take a gentler approach and narrowed in on Dry Vermouth and Cointreau.

This cocktail represents a bit of a balancing act with the various ingredients, which just makes it that much more exciting. With your first few times to make this, be sure to measure the ingredients carefully. When in doubt, add a little extra brandy.