This New Dubonnet Isn't the Queen's, but It's Improved.
Americans have long griped that their version of the aperitif is inferior to its European cousin. Now they’re getting a new formula.
*The formulas are not the same, and the general feeling among spirits aficionados has long been that Americans have gotten the worse end of the deal.
“The old formulation wasn’t particularly distinctive,” said Joaquín Simó, an owner of Pouring Ribbons, a bar in the East Village. “It was a bit cloying, and the flavors were muddy. There wasn’t a defining note in it that would lead a bartender to think, ‘What this cocktail is missing is some Dubonnet.’”
Heaven Hill, tired of losing taste tests, has decided to put an end to that. In early July, it will introduce a newly reformulated Dubonnet to the American market.
Dubonnet’s fate began to shift three years ago in a pickup truck touring southern Jalisco, Mexico. In the truck were Lynn House, a bartender and the national brand educator for Heaven Hill, and Reid Hafer, a senior brand manager for the company.
“We were having a conversation about what we wanted to do with Heaven Hill, and what brands weren’t having the light shined on them,” Ms. House recalled. They both instantly thought of Dubonnet, a steady performer in Heaven Hill’s collection, but one that had never been invited to the craft cocktail party, owing to its lackluster reputation.
The product, Ms. House felt, needed saving. “I had a passion for it, coming from my love for history,” she said. “We had this spirit in our portfolio that had this great heritage. That really spoke to me.”
Heaven Hill gave Ms. House the go-ahead to tinker with Dubonnet’s formula, and she spent the next several months working with the company’s research staff, trying to nudge the recipe closer to its European sister. (Heaven Hill couldn’t just ask Pernod for the recipe. As with many ancient liqueurs, the blend of ingredients is proprietary, so one Dubonnet wouldn’t the share its secrets with other Dubonnet.) . .
Ms. House hopes the changes will encourage consumers to give Dubonnet another try. “I would show it to people, and they’d say their mother and grandmother drank it. I want to change that very much.”'
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/dining/drinks/dubonnet-recipe-heaven-hill.html?
Dubonnet Cocktail
*This cocktail is a bit stronger than that reportedly preferred by Queen Elizabeth II, who opts for two parts Dubonnet to one part gin. The recipe works equally well on the rocks. Another old cocktail that once went by the same name calls for dry sherry instead of gin. It is also worth a try.'
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019369-dubonnet-cocktail
