black jewel old fashioned

1 1/2 oz Glendalough Double Barrel Irish Whiskey (Teeling Small Batch)
1/2 oz Old Overholt 86° Rye Whiskey
1/4 oz Crème de Cassis (Massenez)
1/4 oz Amaro Ciociaro
1/8 oz Cane Syrup (Sirup JM)
1 dash Bittercube Bolivar Bitters (Bittercube Trinity)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist. Another recipe from The Patterson House in Nashville that I spotted in online recipe flashcards when I made the Polite Meeting two days prior was the Black Jewel Old Fashioned. This drink from the Fall 2024 menu collection appeared in a Yelp review that praised it in November 2024 and confirmed the timeframe. With Ciociaro being very much like Amer Picon, the combination reminded me of the Manhattan-like Rock Island from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933. Cassis has also worked well paired with other amaro such as the Instant Crush with Fernet and the Under the Veil with Sfumato. Here with Irish whiskey and American rye, the Black Jewel Old Fashioned proffered an orange and dark fruit bouquet to the nose. Next, red and purple fruit coupled with caramel notes on the sip stepped aside for whiskey plus tannic and bitter dark fruit flavors on the swallow.

salvador dali lama

1 oz Mezcal (Fosforo Ensemble)
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/2 oz Giffard Chili Liqueur (Ancho Reyes)
1/2 oz Manzanilla Sherry (Lustau)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with a Calabrian pepper (dried Thai Matchstick). After making the Love in the Time of Covid, I was reminded that I had another recipe from Seattle's The Doctor's Office saved up. That one was the Salvador Dali Lama by Keith Waldbauer that my friend Daniel Zajic posted on his Instagram after acquiring the recipe from one of the other bartenders. Daniel mentioned that while the drink was created with Giffard Piment d'Espelette, he has had good success at home with Ancho Reyes. Overall, it reminded me of a less bitter and citrus-driven Aztec Death Whistle, so I was curious to give this one a go especially with the intriguingly fused drink name. Once prepared, the Salvador Dali Lama gave forth a smoke, roasted vegetable, and clementine aroma to the nose. Next, an orange and caramel notes on the sip led into smoky agave, chili pepper, almond, and tangerine flavors on the swallow.

polite meeting

1 1/2 oz Bols Genever (Bols Barrel-aged)
1/2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1/4+ oz Giffard Crème de Banane (Tempus Fugit)
1/8 oz Maple Syrup
13 drop Root Beer Bitters (1 dash Bitter Queens Sarsparilla)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with a lemon twist. Two Tuesdays prior, I returned to online recipe flashcards for The Patterson House in Nashville, and I was drawn in by a Genever-rye whiskey Old Fashioned called the Polite Meeting for their Fall 2024 menu. The Genever-maple pairing drew my attention since it has worked in drinks like the Western Front and the Smokin' Bols, but Genever-banana is something that I have only seen in the This That & The Other which had other flavors going on. In the glass, the Polite Meeting launched off with lemon and malty aromas. Next, malt and caramel notes on the sip unfurled into Genever, root beer, maple, banana, and wormwood flavors on the swallow.

love in the time of covid

1 1/2 oz Suntory Toki Japanese Whisky
1 oz Lillet Blanc (Cocchi Americano)
1/4 oz Giffard Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/4 oz Giffard Menthe de Pastille (Tempus Fugit Crème de Menthe)
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail (coupe) glass, and garnish with a lemon twist. Two Mondays ago, I selected my copy of Neil Ratliff's 2022 Seattle Cocktails book for the night's libation. There, I was lured in by Love in the Time of Covid at The Doctor's Office. Bar director Keith Waldbauer described how it was created as a one-off for a charity during lockdown, and it was so successful that it became the bar's first original on a menu of classics. The concept of apricot and mint accents was something that I was familiar with from the Leap Frog and that I utilized in my Derby Julep, so I was curious to see how it would work here with Japanese whisky. Once this updated Gabriel García Márquez tribute drink was mixed, lemon, apricot, and mint aromas jumped out to the nose. Next, pear and grapefruit notes on the sip broadened into whisky, grapefruit, apricot, and mint flavors on the swallow. As the drink warmed up, the Peychaud's cherry and anise aspects started to come out on the back palate.

faithful departed

1 oz Dubliner Irish Whiskey (Teeling Small Batch)
1 oz Cihuatan Indigo Aged Rum (Doorly's 12 Year)
1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Alessio)
1/4 oz Lucano Café (Borghetti)
1/8 oz Green Chartreuse
1/8 oz Demerara Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe, and garnish with lemon oil from a twist (include the twist). Two Sundays ago, I was perusing online recipe flashcards from The Violet Hour in Chicago, and I became enraptured with the Faithful Departed from their Fall 2022 menu. I have only had coffee liqueur and Green Chartreuse once before in the Jungle Madness, so I was curious to try it in a Manhattan format. The name refers to the Anglican and Catholic concept of deceased Christians who are waiting in purgatory to arrive in heaven. That definition made me think of Ted Kilgore's Purgatory especially with the straight spirits whiskey and Chartreuse overlap. In the glass, the Faithful Departed rose to the senses with a lemon oil and coffee bouquet. Next, roast and grape notes on the sip summoned rum, coffee, herbaceous, and clove flavors on the swallow.

la chinesca

1 1/4 oz Blanco Tequila (Cimarron)
3/4 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth (Alessio)
3/8 oz Mezcal (Fosforo)
Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist. Two Saturdays ago, I reached for my copy of The Madrusan Cocktail Companion and spied La Chinesca in the Manhattan section. It was attributed to Paul Hammond and Priscilla Leong now of The Flowing Bowl Cocktail Company in Melbourne. The other drink that I made from that duo was the Nova Scotia as a Bourbon and Scotch Toronto with honey, and this one read like an agave Little Italy.  Perhaps, they named the drink after the Chinatown in Mexicali, the state capital of Baja California, which historically has contained the largest Chinese community in Mexico. The population arrived to the area to build irrigation systems and either came from the United States to flee a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment or directly from China, and the laborers stayed in the area after the project was completed. The city blossomed during American Prohibition where laborers and farmers moved into the city to open and staff bars, restaurants, casinos, and hotels to welcome thirsty folks from north of the border. In the glass, La Chinesca gave forth an orange, herbal, grape, and smoke aroma. Next, grape and caramel notes on the sip wandered into vegetal, bitter herbal, and smoke flavors on the swallow.

ned king's gem

1 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac (Courvoisier VS)
1 oz Appleton Signature Rum (Appleton 8 Year)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Syrup 2:1 (3/4 oz 1:1)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora (coupe) glass, and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. When we were in Easthampton a few weeks ago, we visited Lauren Clarke's store, Tip Top Wine Shop. Lauren used to run the seminal DrinkBoston blog from 2006 to 2014 that captured the players. places, and some of the recipes of the Boston cocktail renaissance in parallel (but with an earlier head start) with this blog. During our visit, she recommended a few nearby cocktail bars; however, we had an intinerary of breweries and a restaurant to visit and did not make it out for mixed drinks. One of those bars was Gigantic in Easthampton, and I found their recipe for Ned King's Gem in a 2022 Punch article. His riff on William Schmidt's The Gem from the 1891 The Flowing Bowl Book added bitters, removed the lemon slice garnish, changed the rum origin from Santa Cruz (Virgin Islands) to Jamaica, and replaced the sugar with the pineapple syrup to all pineapple syrup to modernize the classic. Once prepared, Ned King's Gem proffered cinnamon, barrel-aged, and vaguely fruity aromas to the nose. Next, lime and pineapple notes on the sip revealed rum, Cognac, tropical, clove, and allspice flavors on the swallow.

winterbird

1 1/2 oz Dark Rum (Coruba)
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Simple Syrup
4 dash Angostura Bitters

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a Collins glass or ceramic mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with an orange quarter wheel (half slice) and a cherry. Two Thursdays ago, I decided to make a drink that I spotted on Facebook's Tiki Recipes group called the Winterbird. I was able to trace it back to a Liquor.com which attributed this winterized Jungle Bird riff to Randy Hayden at Nine Mile Station in Atlanta. To me, it seemed more like a 1941 Here's How Zombie with a stripped down rum base plus orange juice and Fernet more than a Jungle Bird proper. In the mug, the Winterbird flitted to the nose with a caramel, menthol, and apricot aroma. Next, caramel, lime, and orange notes on the sip landed on funky dark rum, minty-menthol, pineapple, and apricot flavors on the swallow.

wonk holiday punch (2025)

1/2 oz Planteray Mister Fogg Sail No. 1 Rum
1/2 oz Planteray Xaymaca Rum
1 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup 2:1 (1:1)
3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Two Wednesdays ago, I was listening to a Bartender at Large podcast where Pierre Ferrand's Alexandre Gabriel was the guest, and I later checked out Alexandre's Instagram. One of the posts was a joint one from Matt Pietrek from December 2025 where Matt posted his Wonk Holiday Punch. Matt was inspired by a conversation with bartender Jason Alexander, and his recipe utilized three of Alexandre's products. I had not seen orange liqueur as a base since the Grand Marnier event at Drink at 2009 where John Gertsen led the pack with 2 1/4 oz with the Mission of Burma as an inverted Pegu Club and Scott Holliday's Alicante at 1 1/2 oz (our cocktail, the Lioness (of Brittany), was a meager 3/4 oz by comparison). Once prepared, the Wonk Holiday Punch named after Matt's CocktailWonk and RumWonk accounts began with orange, caramel, and cinnamon aromas. Next, a medley of grapefruit, lime, and orange notes on the sip sailed into rum, orange, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow. The roundness of Pierre Ferrand's orange liqueur akin to that of Grand Marnier allowed for this large amount of curaçao to prosper as half of the alcohol volume.