Tuesday, December 7, 2010

chet baker

2 oz Appleton V/X Rum
1/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/4 oz Honey Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Add straws.

Two Mondays ago, Andrea and I stopped by Dalí in Somerville where Greg Rossi was tending bar. Greg had recently rewritten the menu and included a section of current mixology creations including John Gertsen's Mission of Burma and Jamie Boudreau's Chet Baker. Greg was introduced to the Chet Baker after taking Misty Kalkofen's recommendation to visit the Varnish bar when he was in Los Angeles. There, bartender Eric Alperin made him one and taught him the recipe.
The Chet Baker calls for aged rum which Greg interpreted as Appleton but apparently Jamie created it with Barbancourt. Greg served this drink with no garnish, but Brian Rea listed the drink on his site as a skewered brandied cherry and orange peel. The drink provided a rich rum aroma. Furthermore, the rum and honey filled the sip, and the Angostura Bitters and Punt e Mes' grape and bitter notes completed the swallow. Overall, the Chet Baker seemed more like a Rum Old Fashioned to me than a Rum Manhattan.

5 comments:

Alexander Kern said...

Very interesting. I think I saw this recipe a while ago, and it used Mount Gay XO for the rum, and The Bitter Truth Aromatic bitters for the bitter portion of the recipe.

I've actually been meaning to have Murray make this for me for a long time, but I always end up getting sidetracked.

frederic said...

Mount Gay XO is probably a lot closer to Barbancourt than Appleton is and probably highlights the Punt e Mes and honey more than the Appleton allowed.

Alex said...

Was looking for some punt e mes recipes and found this one. It's a perfectly reasonable way to drink rum, but I don't notice much from the other ingredients. Basically it tastes like Appleton VX, with some slight aweetening, on the rocks.

frederic said...

Indeed. I did mention in the write up that it came off as more of a Rum Old Fashioned than a Rum Manhattan.

OldNapper said...

I made my Chet Baker with Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva Rum, 1 barspoon honey syrup, 2 barspoons Dolin Sweet Vermouth, 2 Dashes Angostura and an orange twist as per Sam Ross' Bartender's Choice App: those bottlings weren't recommended but I loved them together. I tried it with Punt e Mes but it was too much. Perhaps the Barbancourt stands up better. I have a bottle of Appleton 12 Year so maybe I'll try that with Punt e Mes.