cinnamon collins

1 1/2 oz Cognac
1/2 oz Hartley & Gibson Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer, add straw, and stir. Float a few dashes of Angostura Bitters and garnish with an orange twist.

On Sunday night, Andrea and I went to our first speakeasy bar event -- albeit a legal one. The night, called the Sunday Salon, was hosted by Ben Sandrof and required entrance through a back door to get to the bar area. The menu that night contained a collection of recipes that Ben enjoyed making back in his days of No. 9 Park and Drink. While Andrea was overjoyed by another chance to have a green Chartreuse-laden Silent Order, I was drawn to the Cinnamon Collins for my first drink.
The top of the Cinnamon Collins was full of orange oil aroma that led into cinnamon and ginger flavors on the sip. The nutty sherry notes added an interesting level of complexity and pleasantly lingered on the swallow. Toward the last third of the drink, the Angostura spices from the floated dashes began to hit. The Angostura played rather nicely with the ginger and cinnamon components and helped to up the flavor quotient to combat the ice melt effect.