The Harvard

• 20ml 144 Islands Sweet Vermouth #2
• 60ml V.S.O.P Cognac
• 5ml 1:1 Brown Sugar Syrup
• 1 Dash Angostura Bitters
• 1 Dash Raegan’s Orange Bitters
• Pinch of salt

1. Stir with ice and strain
2. Serve in a chilled coup with a maraschino cherry or thin orange twist.

The ‘Harvard’ is a child cocktail of the Manhattan, and works wonderfully to showcase the rich flavours of this vermouth. The Cognac bolsters the spice and cherry of the vermouth while the vermouth really brings out the rich apple flavours and barrel aging of the brandy. extremely quaffable and it’s basically all grapes. Harmonious and decadent.

Vermouth No 2. by 144 Islands is a red base wine of Syrah. Fortified to 22% abv with grain-based spirit, approx. 190 g/L residual sugar. Kerikeri Navel Oranges, Totara Bark, Pohutukawa, Kauri, Northern Rata, Kahikatea and Matai locally sourced or foraged by hand by owner, Jake and his son Remy. Botanicals macerated in alcohol, then distilled through rotary evaporation and added back to base wine at fortification.

Six generations of the Hine family have succeeded one another at the head of Thomas Hine & Co. The tasting rooms at 16 Quai de l’Orangerie have seen it all, from the Great French Wine Blight to local conflicts, world wars, first bottlings, international incidents, economic booms and slumps, legendary river floods, connoisseur parties and exalted blends.

H by Hine is whimsical. If it were a young man, it would have the keen eye of Dick Diver in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. A honeyed golden amber. Markedly floral, with a touch of vanilla and apple blossom. Adventurous, lively and elegant. Expressive yet discreet, its notes of iris, fresh apricot, acacia and white pepper chime with its sprightly and joyful demeanour.

It feels like Coachella in a bottle.