My sister, Wesley Paine, who has been the Museum Director at the Parthenon for 42(!) years retired as of June 30. There have been parties and receptions in honor of this event and her service. For one of them, I was asked to come up with an appropriate cocktail.
Et voilà! The Goddess.
It seemed appropriate to go for Greek ingredients, so I based it on metaxa, a Greek brandy, and retsina, a white wine flavored with pine resin. Retisina is considered by some the national drink of Greece, and by others as all-but-undrinkable. Either way, it works well in this cocktail. Rounding these out are lime juice – because every summer cocktail needs some citrus – and simple syrup to balance the retsina and lime.
The result is a smooth sweet-sour flavor, similar to s Sidecar, but with a pine needle tang. Hard to describe, but pretty easy to drink.
Sip a few of these and you may start wearing a toga.
The Goddess
2 ounces metaxa
1 ounce retsina
.5 ounce lime juice
.5 ounce simple syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. It’s also pretty good on the rocks.