columbia heights

1 1/4 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
1 1/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Alessio)
1/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur (Luxardo)
1 dash Absinthe (8 drop St. George)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a lemon twist. Two Sundays ago, I selected The Madrusan Cocktail Companion book and landed on the Columbia Heights by Rob Libecans at Melbourne's Caretaker's Cottage in 2022. Overall, the recipe read like an Improved Manhattan minus the Angostura Bitters which seemed like a great nightcap. I later found the Dirty Harry which is a bit more rye-driven version of this combination, and of course, the Lawhill as a dry vermouth and bitters variation that was a cult classic at Drink in Boston back in the day. In the glass, the Columbia Heights shared a lemon, dark grape, nutty cherry, and anise aroma. Next, grape and cherry notes on the sip evolved into rye, herbal, cherry, and anise flavors on the swallow.

sidewinds

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan)
3/4 oz Campari
3/4 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
3/4 oz Coco Lopez Coconut Cream
1 oz Lemon Juice

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a mug, top with crushed ice, and garnish with mint sprigs. Two Saturdays ago, my Coco Lopez run had me thinking about the Tradewinds, and its apricot liqueur made me consider how well bitter liqueurs would work in there. My original idea was to do a Ferrari-based (Fernet-Campari) riff, but the flavors ended up too muddied, so I changed it up by dropping the Fernet from that and returning it to being a bit more rum-driven. Nixing the Fernet over the Campari was a no brainer for the latter works rather well with apricot liqueur such as in the A Study in Pink and the Jungle Hotel Bird. The apricot also pointed me to its synergy with Swedish punsch which I learned about in the Havana Cocktail, and Swedish punsch works great with Campari from a trio of drinks I had in 2012 – namely, Sleeping with Strangers, Barefoot in the Dark, and Deck Hand. For a name, I dubbed it the Sidewinds named after a breezes that can blow a moving object off its direction of travel. Here, the Sidewinds gave forth mint, rum funk, and fruity aromas. Next, a creamy lemon and orange sip sunk into funky rum and bitter peach flavors on the swallow.

buster brown

1 oz Bourbon (Evan Williams Bonded)
1 oz Amaro Braulio
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/8 oz Honey Syrup
3/8 oz Coconut (Coco Lopez)

Shake with ice and strain into a glass. The recipe's photo shows an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, so I followed suit. Two Fridays prior, I began perusing the Bartender's Choice Volume 3 app on my phone, and I landed upon the Buster Brown by Jon Nutter at Manhattan's Attaboy in 2023. The app only listed the ingredient as "coconut," and since I had an opened Coco Lopez in the refrigerator, I interpreted it as coconut cream. The combination of spirit, Braulio, honey, and lemon reminded me of my Golden Eagle, but here with Bourbon and coconut instead of mezcal. Once mixed, the Buster Brown lumbered forward with herbal, coconut, and pine aromas. Next, a creamy honey and lemon sip twisted into Bourbon, bitter pine, and coconut flavors on the swallow.

quartermaster

2 oz Jägermeister
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Coco Lopez Coconut Cream
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a snifter or tropical mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with a mint sprig, star anise, and cherry (nasturtium). Two Thursdays ago, I opened up Justin Wojslaw's Coconuts and Carnage book and spotted his Quartermaster that was different from Gin Joint's Quartermaster and Matt Pietrek's Smoky Old Quartermaster. This one reads like a Jägermeister Piña Colada or perhaps Painkiller with the orange juice swapped for curaçao like Paul McGee prefers. I have been thinking about Jägermeister in tropical drinks a lot lately as I am building out my slide deck for a talk at Boston Rum Week in a few weeks entitled "Minimalist Amaro Tiki". Jägermeister has such wonderful ginger, galangal, star anise, dried orange peel, cinnamon, and clove aspects that work great in tropical drinks such as the Escape Hatch, Muertito Vivo, and my Lost U-Boat. Once prepared, the Quartermaster came forth with mint, floral, anise, caramel, and orange aromas on the nose. Next, a creamy lime, caramel, and pineapple sip delved into caramel, anise, ginger, herbal, orange, pineapple, and coconut flavors on the swallow.

bad juju

1 oz Planteray OFTD Rum
1/2 oz Brugal 1888 Rum (Privateer New England Reserve)
1/2 oz Monkey Shoulder Scotch (3/8 oz Cutty Sark Prohibition + 1/8 oz Laphroaig)
1/2 oz Borghetti Coffee Liqueur
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Coco Lopez

Whip shake, pour into a glass (coconut mug), top with crushed ice, and garnish with 2 pineapple fronds, a banana chip, and freshly grated coffee bean.

Two Wednesdays ago, I opened up the Spec recipe app, and in the Bardtenders podcast's collection, I found the Bad Juju as a Piña Colada riff created by one of the podcast's hosts, Jon Mateer. Jon runs the bar program at TPC Sawgrass golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and perhaps the name refers to one of the cursed holes. One article described, "The phrase 'bad juju' at TPC Sawgrass most famously relates to the notorious water-logged history of the iconic par-3 17th island green, where PGA Tour groups have occasionally suffered collective meltdowns by hitting their tee shots straight into the water." I thought that I had tried a coffee-tinged Piña Colada before, but alas, I had not; the closest was Chad Austin's pineapple-less Aztec Warrior, so the Bad Juju was indeed a first. Once prepared, the Bad Juju offered up coffee and a hint of smoke on the nose. Next, a creamy sip with roast notes slid into burly rum, hint of smoky Scotch, coconut, pineapple, and coffee flavors on the swallow. Jon commented on my Instagram post, "Love the addition of splitting the Scotch here! That 1/8 of Laphroaig is money," to which I explained that the last of "my Cutty Sark bottle ran short, so I figured to fill the gap with flavor instead of a more neutral blended whisky."

the decatur

1 1/2 oz Bonded Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Alessio)
1/4 oz Peach Liqueur (Mathilde)
1/4 oz Maraschino (Luxardo)

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass. I added a cherry garnish to the recipe. Two Tuesdays prior, Matt Pietrek posted a drink on his Cocktail Wonk Instagram while he was traveling in France called The Decatur that was subtitled "The Brooklyn of Georgia." His recipe read like a cross between a Bourbon Bell and a Buffalo, so it definitely caught my attention. Moreover, I thought keeping the Amer Picon (or similar bitter liqueur) and replacing the Maraschino with peach would have been an interesting riff as well, but two stone fruit liqueurs might have a curious synergy. Once mixed, The Decatur displayed rye, cherry, and peach aromas. Next, grape and red fruit notes on the sip delved into rye, nutty, vanilla, and peach flavors on the swallow.

ohana joe

1 oz Planteray OFTD Rum
1 oz Planteray Stiggins' Fancy Pineapple Rum
1/3 oz St. George Coffee Liqueur (Borghetti)
1/2 oz Rich Demerara Syrup (1:1)
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Build in a Collins or Pilsner glass, fill with crushed ice, swizzle to mix and chill, top with crushed ice, and garnish with 3 coffee beans.

Two Mondays ago, I was scanning Kindred Cocktails and spotted the Ohana Joe by Jeff Cleveland then of the Tonga Hut in Palm Springs, California. I was able to trace it back to a 2016 post on Critiki (that I was able to read through the Wayback Machine). While at Jeff's home, blogger Humuhumu Trott mentioned that her favorite drink was the Mai Kai's Black Magic, and this is what he served her. Humuhumu explained, "It was so new, it didn't yet have a name. Jeff asked me to help name it, and together we came up with Ohana Joe: a nod to the coffee in the drink, and to the feeling of warm welcome Jeff's had from the tiki 'ohana, and to the historic Palm Springs tiki bar Aloha Jhoe's." Once assembled, the Ohana Joe ushered in coffee and pineapple aromas. Next, roast and lime notes on the sip transformed into burly rum, coffee, and pineapple flavors on the swallow. While I expected a Mr. Bali Hai, I ended up with something a bit more complex given the overproof and pineapple rums, the lower pineapple juice quotient, and the lime instead of lemon juice.

cupid deluxe

1 1/2 oz Scotch (Famous Grouse)
3/4 oz Banana Liqueur (Tempus Fugit)
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Ginger Syrup
2 dash Chocolate Bitters (Angostura Cocoa)

Shake with ice, serve tall (old fashioned glass, ice, 1 oz soda water), and garnish with a piece of candied ginger. Two Sundays ago, I returned to online recipe flashcards from Dutch Kills in Long Island City and selected the Cupid Deluxe. The drink for their Spring 2019 menu was attributed elsewhere on the web to bartender Jose Cardenas, and it was perhaps named after the 2013 album by the group Blood Orange. Scotch and banana worked so well in the Holy Molé! that I utilized it in my Artists and Models at the Cocktail Lab at Earl's, and I was curious to try it here. Once prepared, the Cupid Deluxe offered up a pineapple and ginger aroma. Next, a carbonated caramel, lemon, and pineapple sip flowed into Scotch, pineapple, banana, and ginger flavors on the swallow.

lacrimosa

2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
3/4 oz Luxardo Bitter (Bianco)
3/4 oz Amaro Ciociaro

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with a flamed orange twist (unflamed). Two Saturdays prior, I decided to make the Lacrimosa by David Slape at Manhattan's P.D.T. in Fall 2008 via The P.D.T. Cocktail Book as a "dark, brooding Negroni variation." I spotted this a few days before on a friend's Instagram and realized that I skipped over the recipe in the book since I lacked Luxardo's Bitter until a year and a half ago. In the glass, the Lacrimosa cried forth fresh orange oil aromas over rye and caramel orange ones. Next, a caramel-driven sip from the Ciociaro opened up into rye, dark orange, and bitter herbal flavors on the swallow.