the simon

2 oz Rittenhouse 100 Rye
1/2 oz Averna
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Cherry Heering
1 dash Fee's Aztec Chocolate Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Still in the midst of my birthday bar crawl, I was just finishing my first drink at Clio, my second stop, when bartender Todd Maul handed me a coupe glass filled with reddish-brown contents. "The Simon," he explained, "It was named after a bar regular around town." Somewhere about this time, Eastern Standard bartender Nichole Lebedevitch joined me at the bar stool to my left. I am not sure whether free food was being brought out to us because it was my birthday or because Nicole is just that awesome and I happened to be sitting next to her. Unfortunately for me, Clio's food is mainly fish based, and fortunately for Nicole, she was sitting next to a vegetarian. At least, I had a tempting drink to make up for the food I was sliding over.
The Simon started with an aroma that swirled with rye whiskey and spiced cherry aromas. The taste was a lemon crispness that paired well with the Heering and Averna richness, and this was followed by the rye's strength on the swallow. Basically, the Simon was a bittered High Hat; however, it was a little less bright but more earthy than the High Hat.

I was only part way through my Simon when Todd presented me with a Diablo. The name of the drink certainly summed his generous intentions. After the Three to One, the Simon, and now the Diablo were drained, I paid my bill, bid my adieu, and headed out into the early evening summer heat. All I knew was that I did not want to get on the subway and deal with the construction and the shuttle bus, so I headed in the direction of the Mass Ave bridge on foot.