the bitter end

2 oz White Rum (Pritchard's)
1 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Build in an 8 oz highball glass. Fill with crushed ice and swizzle to mix. Float a 1/4 oz Angostura Bitters.
On Saturday night, I opened up Left Coast Libations and found Yanni Kehagiaras's The Bitter End calling out to me. Yanni's Swizzle-style drink recipe specified Flor de Caña 4 Year White Rum, and I best approximated that spirit with Pritchard's White Rum. Beside the two dashes of Angostura Bitters in the mix, the drink was capped off with a hefty slug of bitters which lurked on top of the drink waiting for the glass to be drained by a straw. These bitters along with the falernum donated a rich clove, cherry, and spice aroma. The sip was a light citrus flavor that was neither sweet nor crisp, while the swallow had the heat of the white rum paired up with clove, spice, and some bitterness. And as expected by the name, toward the end of the drink, there was indeed an embittered spice bomb waiting at the bottom of the highball glass.