Letna Demanovka — The Slovak summer serve: mountain-herb bitter long with apple juice

Letna Demanovka

The Slovak summer serve: mountain-herb bitter long with apple juice

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 ozDemänovka
    The 38 percent Bitter, not one of the fruit bottlings
    Substitute: Another Slovak or Czech herbal bitter
  • 4 3/4 ozApple Juice
    Cloudy rather than clear, and cold
  • 1 3/4 ozSoda Water
    Last, and only to lift it

Instructions

  1. Fill a highball glass with ice
  2. Add 1 1/3 oz Demanovka and 4 3/4 oz cold apple juice

    Juice before soda; it is close in weight to the bitter and will stay mixed

  3. Top with 1 3/4 oz soda water
  4. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a sprig of mint

Technique Notes

Apple juice before the soda, and both cold. Cloudy apple juice and a herbal bitter are close in weight and will sit together happily; add the soda first and the juice sinks straight past it to the bottom of the glass.

Why the Letna Demanovka Works

Apple and bitter herbs are an old northern pairing, and cloudy apple juice brings acidity and body at once. Fourteen centilitres of it against four of bitter is a long ratio, which is the point: this is a hot-afternoon drink rather than a digestivo.