folly ruins

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Amontillado Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Walnut Liqueur (Russo Nocino)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Sundays ago, I contemplated the Quarter Deck riff called the Full Deck a few weeks ago and how the drink family had rum and sherry as the only two common ingredients. A nutty sherry made me think of walnut liqueur such as in the Bittersweet Serenade, and that liqueur made me consider the pairing with Cynar that I had most recently in the Bitter Branch. For a rum, I selected the highly aromatic Jamaican rum Smith & Cross to round out the combination. To name this one, I dubbed this one the Folly Ruins after a mansion built in Port Antonio, Jamaica, that used sea water in the cement, and this construction blunder caused the structures to crumble over time.The Folly Ruins met the nose with bright lemon oil, rum funk, and darker undertones of nutty-caramel elements. Next, grape and caramel mingled on the sip, and the swallow showcased funky rum, walnut, and bitter-funky vegetal flavors with a clove finish.

jungle bird negroni

1 1/2 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum
1/4 oz Hamilton Jamaica Black Rum (Coruba)
1 oz Campari
3/4 oz Cocchi Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Pineapple Syrup

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass with ice, and garnish with a lime twist.Two Saturdays ago, my fresh batch of pineapple syrup was ready, so I was excited to use it in a recipe that I had spotted in the Hawthorne bar bible. That drink was the Jungle Bird Negroni created by Jared Sadoian circa 2018, and like my Zombie riff The Count Rides Again, it mashed up a classic Tiki drink with the Negroni. After an easy build, the Jungle Bird Negroni donated a lime and bright pineapple bouquet to the nose. Next, caramel from the rums and grape from the vermouth filled the sip, and the swallow proffered rum, pineapple, and bitter orange flavors to round out the drink.

flip out

1 1/2 oz Carpano Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
3/4 oz El Dorado 12 Year Rum
~1/4 oz Marie Brizard Curaçao (Pierre Ferrand Dry)
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters
8 drop Salt Tincture (1 pinch Salt)
1 Whole Egg

Shake once without ice and once with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with orange oil from a twist.Two Fridays ago, I decided to continue on with a second drink from Kirk Estopinal's trilogy in Beta Cocktails, the Halfway to a Three Ways to Lose Your Lover. Here, the Flip Out was the whole egg version with flipped around rum-vermouth proportions of the All's Fair. Once assembled, the Flip Out showcased the rum's caramel aroma along with orange notes from the twist oils and liqueur. The caramel and orange continued on into the sip, and they were followed by rum, chocolate, and cola flavors on the swallow.

jeckyll & hyde

1 1/2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon (Old Forester 100°)
1/2 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Syrup
1 tsp Demerara Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters
2 dah Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with a lemon twist and an orange one.Two Thursdays ago, I continued on with the Old Fashioned theme with one from the Death & Co. Cocktail Book called the Jeckyll & Hyde. After preparing this recipe created by Thomas Waugh in 2009, it proffered orange, lemon, Bourbon, and cinnamon aromas. Next, apple notes on the sip transformed into Bourbon, apple, cinnamon, allspice, and clove flavors on the swallow.

freehand old fashioned

2 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum
1/4 oz Demerara Syrup
1 bsp Galliano Ristretto Coffee Liqueur
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Regan's Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Wednesdays, I was in an Old Fashioned sort of mood, and I recalled spotting an interesting recipe in the Hawthorne's bar bible. That drink was the Freehand Old Fashioned that bartender Jason Kilgore crafted circa 2017 in honor of the Freehand Hotel in Miami which is the home of the award-winning Broken Shaker bar. Moreover, the recipe was featured in a 2018 Liquor.com article about the rise of the Rum Old Fashioned. Once prepared, the Freehand Old Fashioned met the nose with an orange and pineapple bouquet. Next, a roast-filled sip summoned a pineapple, coffee, allspice, and clove swallow.

bending blades

1 1/2 oz Blanco Tequila (Cimarron)
1/2 oz Manzanilla Sherry (Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana)
1/2 oz Grapefruit Liqueur (St. Elder)
1/2 oz Salers Gentian Liqueur (Suze)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with lemon oil from a twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I was browsing the ShakeStir database and spotted the Bending Blades by Los Angeles bartender Chris Day. Chris' recipe had the brief description of, "An aperitif that finds 3 lovers rolling through fresh cut grass. Without the stains." which must have been apropos of the competition that he submitted it for in 2015. Those three "lovers" were sherry, grapefruit, and tequila, and he continued on with, "So good together, I decided to make an aromatic drink out of them. The Salers is just the bitter, herbaceous twine that binds them all together."The Bending Blades awakened the senses with a limoncello-like aroma. Next, a citrussy sip tumbled into tequila, vegetal, and grapefruit flavors on the swallow.

spanish ruby

1 1/2 oz Plantation 3 Star Rum (Privateer Tres Aromatique)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Amontillado Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Grapefruit Liqueur (St. Elder)
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lime wheel.Two Monday ago, I began sifting through my volumes of Food & Wine: Cocktails and found the Spanish Ruby in the final 2016 edition. The recipe was created by Natasha David at Nitecap in Manhattan, and the Spanish Ruby it refers to could be the World War I-era semiautomatic handgun that the French had made for them first by the Spanish firm of Gabilondo y Urresti-Eibar (over 50 companies manufactured these into the 1950s). Here, in liquid form, it proffered a rum, cinnamon, and grapefruit aroma. Next, lime and grape mingled on the sip, and the swallow shot forth with rum, nutty, cinnamon, and grapefruit flavors.

roman holiday

2 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Cynar
1 oz Blood Orange Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange twist and cherry. The text mentioned that regular orange juice can be used when blood oranges are out of season.When Andrea returned home from the store two Sundays ago with a bag of blood oranges, I recalled a recipe that I had been eying in Frank Caiafa's The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book called the Roman Holiday. This 2010 number matched the blood orange with gin and two bitter liqueurs: Aperol and Cynar which have worked well together in drinks like the Rucola Negroni and Juan Bautista. The name made me think of my initial taste of blood oranges which was on my first vacation that I took on my own where I bought the fruit from vendors in Rome. Once prepared, the Roman Holiday greeted the nose with orange and pine notes. Next, orange and berry on the sip gave way to gin and bitter orange flavors on the swallow.

hawaiian war chant

2 oz Plantation Original Dark Rum
1/4 oz Grapefruit Liqueur (St. Elder)
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Absinthe (1/2 bsp Kübler)

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned with ice, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Saturdays ago, I began flipping through Amanda Schuster's New York Cocktails and spied the Hawaiian War Chant. The recipe was crafted by Mikey Diehl at Ward III as a Rum Old Fashioned variation that utilized a few elements from the 1934 Zombie including the Don's Mix (here with grapefruit liqueur instead of grapefruit juice), Angostura Bitters, and absinthe. The drink might have been named after the popular American tune that was modeled after an 1860s piece by Prince Leleiohuku. The original song was "Kāua I Ka Huahuaʻi" or "We Two in the Spray," and it was not a chant or battle tale but a story of two lovers sneaking off to meet. Diehl is a fan of Tiki but he worked in a bar that favored stirred whiskey drinks, so this was the menu item compromise to fit the clientele.The Hawaiian War Chant met the nose with orange, cinnamon, and dark rum aromas. Next, caramel from the rum filled the sip, and the swallow bellowed forth rum, cinnamon, and grapefruit flavors with an anise and allspice finish.