four rum manhattan

1/2 oz Berkshire Mountain Distillers' Ragged Mountain Rum
1/2 oz Ron Matusalem 10 Year Clasico Rum
1/2 oz La Favorite Rhum Vieux
1/2 oz Diplomático Añejo Rum
1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1 cube Demerara Sugar
2 dash Housemade Boker's Bitters

Muddle the sugar cube with the bitters. Add rest of ingredients and ice, stir, and strain into a rocks glass. Twist lemon peel over the top.

For my second drink at Deep Ellum, Max Toste was excited about his recent experiments blending rums and wanted to make me a drink akin to a 2:1 Manhattan. While the ingredients sounded more like a Pirate Cocktail (rum, vermouth, bitters), Max explained that there were a lot of whiskey notes in the four rums he selected. Indeed, all of the rums were aged in either whiskey or Bourbon barrels which imparted their flavors to the spirits. Once served, the vibrant lemon oil nose on the drink led into some serious dark rum flavors. The La Favorite rhum agricole funkiness stood out for me, and Andrea picked up immediately on the whiskey barrel notes. The Boker's bitters gave a nice finish to the swallow, and it was great to see that Max has added them to his barmade ingredients that also include aromatic, orange, and wormwood bitters. His recipe for the Boker's sounded very similar to the one I made here.