mcmenomy cocktail

This month's Mixology Monday theme, "Limes" (MxMo LI), was picked by Doug of the Pegu Blog. Doug selected the citrus component of his favorite drink, the Pegu Club, as this month's focus and wanted to know what the rabble of Mixology Monday bloggers could do with this lovely fruit.

When I mentioned the theme to Andrea, she asked if I were going to do the Pegu Clubweiser, a Pegu Club with the citrus swapped out for Bud Light Lime (a drink I created conceptually on a Thursday Drink Night on Mixoloseum to taunt Doug, and later made, as pictured on the right, when I acquired a can of BLL at a 4th of July cookout). As gross as it sounds, it actually did work balance-wise. The lack of citrus' crispness was made up by the beer's hops and carbonation. However, BLL contains "natural lime... flavor" and perhaps not even lime itself, and I did not want to promote this monstrosity save for the shock value (although if you ask in the comments, I will gladly provide the recipe).

While looking for drinks one night in the 1940 The How and When, I spotted the McMenomy Cocktail which not only seemed intriguingly tasty but contained lime juice as well. When I gave the recipe a little thought, the drink reminded me of a Coca Cola-less Mandeville -- all the same flavors (rum, grenadine, Pernod) save for the soda aspect and the Mandeville's lemon instead of lime. The McMenomy's secret weapon though is its inclusion of Swedish Punsch to add some complexity to the rum component.

McMenomy Cocktail
• 3/4 oz Bacardi Rum (Pritchard's White)
• 3/4 oz Swedish Punsch (Homemade)
• Juice 1/2 Lime (1/2 oz)
• 2 dash Grenadine (1 tsp Homemade)
• 2 dash Pernod (1/2 tsp Pernod Fils)
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The book gave no history of the drink, and searching the web provided no clear link between the drink name and anyone famous during that time period. On the nose, Andrea detected the rum notes and the Batavia Arrack in the Swedish Punsch, whereas I focused in more on the Pernod aroma. Strangely, the mix made the Pernod Absinthe smell and taste more peppermint than anise; it was not unpleasant, just slightly surprising. The sip was sweet and followed by lime, absinthe, and Batavia Arrack on the swallow. The lime worked well with the rum and Swedish Punsch flavors and did a good job keeping the sugar in the Punsch and grenadine in check.
Cheers to Doug for hosting this month and doing his part to prevent scurvy, and to Paul Clarke for being the royal cat herder!