Brandy Buck

So I would expect any Buck made with brandy to adhere to the ingredients specified for all Buck class drinks: spirit, lime juice, ginger ale. This is completely off the mark. For one, there's soda rather than ginger ale, then creme de menthe, and finally there's the grapes.

For some reason I imagined that the recipe calls for white grapes. And it might. But its not so specific. The grapes themselves add sweetness to a pretty dry fizz drink, if you eat them while sipping. Then the grape skin has tannin bitterness that goes with the crispness of the mint liqueur.

Look, I don't recommend making this cocktail to impress anyone. There's a time and place for it, or maybe it's the confluence of having the ingredients on hand and the willpower to drink this down. Certainly it doesn't rank using a good brandy, and any base spirit, it would seem, will suffice.

• 2 oz. brandy (E & J XO used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. creme de menthe
• sparkling water
• seedless grapes (white used)

Combine all ingredients except soda and grapes in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a highball glass. Top with soda and garnish with grapes.