bless up

1 1/2 oz Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
3/4 oz Aperol
2 barspoon Averna
1 barspoon Creme de Cacao

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Last night, Andrea and I attended an Appleton Rum event at Eastern Standard co-hosted by Contemporary Cocktail's Willy Shine, John Lermayer, and Eastern Standard's Jackson Cannon. We met John at Tales of the Cocktail a few months ago and he is here in Boston preparing the Woodward, the bar at the Ames Hotel in the Financial District, for its opening in mid-November. Two of the Woodward's bartenders were in attendance, and the one that I spoke to had a great interest in making bitters (although sadly, he would not reveal what drinks were going to be on the menu). While Willie was at Tales this year, neither Andrea nor I met him, but we were amused to hear that he was born and grew up in Union Square, Somerville, close to where the Boston Shaker store currently is located.

Four drinks were on the menu last night; all were featuring Appleton Estate's Reserve Rum which is a blend of 20 different rums. While we did not have a chance to taste the spirit straight, there was a nice degree of spice detectable from the rum in the various drinks. My favorite drink of the night was the Bless Up which Willie Shine made for me. The Bless Up started with an orange oil nose which led into a rather rich and complex drink. Chocolate notes from the Creme de Cacao and Carpano Antica vermouth were complemented by the spiciness of the rum and Averna amaro and by the sweet fruit notes of the Aperol. The drink was very similar to the Dub Treo which they were also serving last night.

Dub Treo
• 1 1/2 oz Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
• 3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
• 3/4 oz Aperol
• 1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Flame an orange twist over the top and drop in.

The Dub Treo was described as a rum Negroni-sort of drink which reminded me a bit ingredient-wise of a drink that Eastern Standard's Hugh Fiore made me last year using Gosling's Family Reserve Rum. The Dub Treo, while less complex than the Bless Up, featured some delightful cinnamon notes from the bitters and vermouth which worked well with the spice flavors in the rum. Indeed, there was some beauty in its subtlety relative to the Bless Up.
Above is Eastern Standard's Kit Paschal about to flame an orange peel over my Dub Treo. Earlier, Kit relayed a story to us about how he ran all over town gathering up two cases-worth of Ting, a Jamaican grapefruit-flavored soda, a few bottles at a time. The Ting ended up in a highball beverage, the Appleton Ting.

Appleton Ting
• 2 oz Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
• 1/2 oz Agave Nectar-Lime Juice Mix (1:1)
Build over ice in a highball glass. Fill with Ting and garnish with an orange twist.

The Appleton Ting was our entry drink and it was a good showcase for the rum flavor due to the lighter ingredients. John Lermayer, who made us the drink, described it as a Jamaica's answer to the Dark & Stormy.