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Carmon's Restaurant »
Address: 415 N. Neil St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 352-5880
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Martini Thyme

If there’s any cocktail that should strike fear into the hearts of contemporary drinkers, it’s the martini. And by martini, I mean the real martini, the one with gin. Vodka only became popular in lieu of gin in the late 1980s. Thankfully, other people are still in the same boat as this old soul, so there are plenty of places with the proper potable – take Carmon’s, for example.

Carmon’s, an old-world French restaurant in downtown Champaign (415 N. Neil St.), has its own take on the quintessential cocktail, the Martini Thyme. The name may be deceptively simple, but the flavor is multileveled. Melanie Sheckels, the night manager for Carmon’s, clues us into this drink’s history: “Our owner made this recipe himself, after much of the staff became enamored with its unique ingredient.” This ingredient, if you haven’t already guessed, is a thyme-infused liqueur. Although there isn't much of it inside the drink, it packs quite the punch. The initial smell as it’s raised to your lips is purely citrus – the orange on top may or may not have something to do with this. From there, your mouth is met with equal flavors of gin and the thyme-infused liqueur. Neither outright fight to be the dominant taste; rather, the two flavors mix for something that is as complex as it is delicious. Afterwards, the thyme sticks around as the majority of the aftertaste. Scheckels prides herself on this cocktail, as well, when she says, “we love to be unexpected, but at the same time we manage to please most palates.” She’s right, too; this cocktail tastes wonderful and feels refreshing – the perfect complement to a sunny summer day. I’ve been fruitlessly thinking thoughts of warmer weather all week (I hope you have too), and that’s why it’s the cocktail of the week.

Ingredients
2 oz gin
2 oz dry vermouth
¼ oz Ferigoule® thyme-infused liqueur
1 slice orange

Directions
Shake the gin, vermouth, and liqueur with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with the orange.