frisco rose

The theme for this month's Mixology Monday (MxMo CXII) was selected by me, Frederic of the CocktailVirgin blog. The theme I chose was "Mashups," and I elaborated on the concept with the description of, "A few weeks ago, I was talking with Backbar bartender Sam Cronin about the wonders of mashup cocktails where you fuse two cocktails often (but not always) with overlapping ingredients. Since Backbar has a drink of the day as well as a drink of the week, the bartenders there have to generate a lot of new ideas, and combining two (neo)classics into one is often a successful way to breed new drinks... And this got me thinking that the technique would make a great Mixology Monday exercise. For this theme, choose two or perhaps more drinks and combine them into one. It often helps if they have some overlap in ingredients or name, and it is not only fair but common to only combine some of the ingredients in the drinks and leave out others. As for a name, perhaps come up with something that pays tribute to the parents of this offspring? Not feeling too creative? Feel free to find mashups created by others and write about the drink and what recipes inspired its creation."
Since the bar program at Loyal Nine began doing drinks of the day, I have turned to the mashup technique a few times and this rather inspired me to host this theme as a Mixology Monday event. True, I had tinkered with it in the past such as merging the Nuclear Daiquiri with the Mai Tai to create the Bikini Atoll, but the need for a drink nearly every shift (when there are two bartenders on Friday and Saturday night, we either alternate or collaborate) has pushed me to consider the drink creation method more often. So about two weeks ago on a Sunday night, I thought about the Frisco Sour ticket request the night before and decided on it as a starting point. From there, I wanted to do an apple brandy drink since apple and the Frisco's Benedictine pair well such as in the Widow's Kiss and the Frisco's rye pairs well with apple such as in the Fallback. For an apple cocktail, I decided on the Jack Rose with the Boston inclusion of Peychaud's Bitters, and for a name, I opted for the Frisco Rose over the Jack Frisco or the Frisco Jack.

Frisco Rose
• 3/4 oz Rittenhouse Rye
• 3/4 oz Morin Selection Calvados
• 1/2 oz Benedictine
• 1/2 oz Jack Rudy Grenadine
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
• 1 dash Peychaud's Bitters
Shake with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

As expected, the drink was fruity and herbal with a bit of a backbone from the bonded rye whiskey. Without the Peychaud's Bitters, the drink was a touch sweet and lacked definition, but with the bitters as Boston's Jack Rose Society opted for in 2006, it truly worked as a mashup.

So thank you all for playing along with the 112th installment of Mixology Monday, and I cannot wait to see what the rest of you came up with!