Sunday, July 20, 2014

fat like buddha

2 oz Flor de Caña 7 Year Rum (DonQ Añejo)
3/4 oz Dubonnet Rouge (Bonal Gentiane-Quina)
1/4 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Cointreau

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange twist (omitted flame aspect).
Two Thursdays ago, I was looking through Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide 75th anniversary edition and spotted a curiously named rum drink called Fat Like Buddha. Though there was no attribution in the book, a quick websearch informed me that it was the work of Brian Miller at Death & Co. as well as something more specific than Mr. Boston's dark rum. For a quinquina, I opted for Bonal as my substitute for Dubonnet which has yielded positive results in the past. Once mixed, the Fat Like Buddha shared an orange oil aroma that led into a grape and light caramel sip. The rum shined through on the swallow along with bitter, herbal, and orange elements. Overall, the recipe reminded me a bit of the Tony Montana at Trina's Starlite Lounge.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I just picked up a glass exactly like this at a antique store this weekend, nice glassware really makes the drink look great

frederic said...

I remember my wife fighting me on it since she declared them as sorbet glasses. She let me get them and actually appreciates them now. I also got a skinnier version of these for really cheap that are perfect for 3 oz build recipes. cheers!

Alex said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alex said...

Clear amber appearance and a light, sweet, orange-forward and herbally complex nose. Sip is somewhat weak on the front of the tongue, with light sweet herbal notes from the Benedictine. However, once it hits the midpalate the flavors come bursting out with the cointreau and Benecitine dominating over the round grape notes of the Dubonnet and the barely perceptible rum. This is actually a very cointreau dominant drink on the tongue, to the point of even feeling slightly unbalanced, furthermore, even for an all alcohol drink, it’s a tad hot on the tongue at first. The swallow sees the Dubonnet really coming to the fore along along with continuing strong orange Cointreau notes. Finish is mild, pleasant, and sees the rum dominating with some nice mild orange undertones - actually, the pleasant finish is the best part of this cocktail. This isn’t awful, but it’s not particularly great either. The drink feels a bit flabby in terms of sweetness, and the rum is overpowered. Interesting to try, but I likely won’t be making this again.