The Riviera

Fresh pineapple on hand. Time for another batch of pineapple-infused Gin + Campari + Maraschino. I just recently discovered that the authentic recipe uses simple syrup and an egg white. This sounds too sweet to me, as I usually omit both and use 2-1/2 oz of the mixture. I also swap the Maraschino and Campari for a more bitter drink.

Drinking this now, with flipped Campari & Maraschino ratios, as suggested by Dan, and without the eggwhite. This smells nice due to the mint and orange bitters, and is pleasant enough, but I think it's a bit sweet, and not quite bitter enough to effect compexity in the drink. A pleasant harmony does arise from the pineapple, Campari and Maraschino, but I'd drop the simple to 1/2 oz or even 1/4, and I might either up the Campari in the drink (not the mix) or add more mint and muddle it first.

So here's the way I figure it. The infusion has a bit more than 1/2 oz of Maraschino in the 2 oz used, and coupled with 3/4 oz of simple, it's really sweet. If you count Maraschino effective as sweet as simple, 1/4 oz simple with the infusion gives you an equal parts sour. 

Updated notes to suggest reducing or omitting the simple and the suggestion to flip the Campari and Maraschino. This is one of those "interesting" recipes where the modified inauthentic recipe is probably better than the original for most peoples' taste.

Alrighty.... round 2: Dropped the simple out completely, used the egg white. This is much less sweet, but also not as textured. This is decent enough, but it's missing something. The mint does nothing as a garnish, as the egg white foam mutes most of the aroma of the cocktail. Frustrating.

For anyone who has tried this- is there really a benefit to adding the campari and maraschino to the gin when you start the pineapple infusion? I'd like to try this, but my concern is that if the spirit balance doesn't end up where I'd want it, it will be hard to adjust. I'm leaning towards just doing a pineapple-infused gin (or white rum) and adding the campari and maraschino to individual cocktails, unless the 4 ingredients infusing together really makes a difference. I'm thinking 4:2:1 gin:campari:maraschino if I do them all together, but I'm worried that still might be too much maraschino.

My guess is that pineapple-infused gin would work. I have made it with pineapple juice (fresh), but it wasn't the same -- still good, though. I do recommend swapping the ratios of the Campari and Maraschino, at least if you like Campari (which I think you do). I also don't bother with the egg white. It could be that with an egg white, you might need the simple syrup. I've found the egg white + acid = puckery astringent alum-like flavor, which sugar cures.

I started my gin, without the Campari and Maraschino. I'm trying a batch of pineapple-infused white rum as well. The swapped Campari and Maraschino ratio sounds much more appealing, so I'll definitely start there, thanks.

I made my pineapple infused gin and used 1 oz of it, .5 campari, .25 maraschino, .75 lemon, and no simple, and it was really good. I'll probably bump the campari up and the lemon down next time, but I like the way the pineapple, campari, and maraschino melded together without any one of them taking over. I think this would make a great drink for a summer party; I can see the flavors appealing to most people, but it is still different enough to be interesting.

I also tried this with a pineapple-kiwi shrub in place of lemon juice, and still no simple or egg white (made the shrub using Neyah White's cold process as described here with equal parts fruit, sugar, and vinegar http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/cold-processed-berry-shrub-r…), keeping the 4:2:1 gin:campari:maraschino ratio, with 2 oz of that to 0.5 oz of the shrub. I like this version much better than the lemon juice version, which is also very good. I started the shrub at the same time as the gin infusion, since I had a whole pineapple and too many kiwis laying around, so if you are going to plan ahead to infuse the gin, you might consider starting a shrub too, and see what you think.