Brandy & 43 Highball

There's a particular kind of drink that sommeliers whisper about—the one that tastes impossibly sophisticated but requires the bartending skills of someone who can successfully open a bottle of soda water. The Brandy & 43 Highball is that drink's platonic ideal. It shouldn't work this well. Brandy, with its grape-and-wood complexity, meeting Licor 43's vanilla-citrus sweetness, topped with the effervescent anonymity of soda water. But somewhere in that triangle of flavors, something magical happens. The soda doesn't dilute the spirits—it amplifies them. The bubbles carry the vanilla notes upward while the brandy provides a warm, sophisticated base. The result tastes like what cream soda would be if it had been invented by Spanish monks with access to good cognac and a sophisticated understanding of citrus oils. Which, given Spain's monastic tradition of liqueur-making, might not be that far from the truth. Sometimes the best drinks are the ones that don't try too hard.