old trousers

1 oz Old Monk Rum
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
1 dash Fee's Old Fashion Bitters
6-8 oz Guinness Stout

Build in a small (10 oz) snifter glass. Top with stout and garnish with a healthy pinch of grated cinnamon.

On Sunday, we spent the day up in Kittery, Maine, to do some clothing shopping. I am not sure whether I enjoy the outlet stores there more or our tradition of eating at the Portsmouth Brewery on the way home followed by a trip to the southbound I-95 New Hampshire State Liquor Store. There we were able to contain our purchases to 3 bottles: the return of Bulleit Bourbon to our shelves, a backup bottle of Benedictine, and a bottle of Root! We had tasted this root tea liqueur at Tales of the Cocktail this past year, but this was the first time we had seen it for sale! On the way home, we decided to overshoot our exit and continue on to the South End and visit the Gallows to have a drink or two to celebrate Repeal Day.
For my first drink, I was tempted by the Old Trousers, a beer cocktail that seemed very colonial in theme. In fact, the name, according to Gavin Nathan's Historic Taverns of Boston: 370 Years of Tavern History in One Definitive Guide, was one of the original beer cocktails on old tavern menus. It was rather affordable for it "contained all the partially consumed beers left at the bar, mixed together and re-served." For such a honorarium to a hideous drink, this Old Trousers was actually a delight to drink. Perhaps it had to do with the fresh Guinness coming from a tap instead of the lost sailors from around the bar. Guinness' maltiness and cinnamon were on the sip while the rum popped up on the swallow along with more of the cinnamon and the beer's hops. Indeed, the dark, rich Guinness Stout was complemented by the Old Monk Rum; however, it was the honey and the cinnamon which really tied the drink together. The honey donated a delightful smoothness to the drink and the cinnamon supplemented the rum's vanilla, beer's hops, and the aromatic bitters to make for a finely seasoned drink.