coffey park swizzle

1 oz Barbancourt 4 Year Rum (Old Monk)
1 oz Amontillado Sherry (Lustau)
1/4 oz Velvet Falernum
3/4 oz Ginger Syrup (Ginger People)
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Swizzle in a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Add a straw and garnish with 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters on top of the drink. A photo of the drink elsewhere shows a mint sprig garnish as well (see text) and I used a lime twist instead.

On Monday, I opened up the Big Bartender's Book and found a recipe by Alexander Day of Death & Company in Manhattan. The drink was a swizzle named after Coffey Park in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, and the combination of lime, ginger, and fortified wine reminded me of the Port of Funchal and G.M. Gurton's Punch. The Coffey Park Swizzle called for Barbancourt 3 Star Rum; since I lacked it, I decided to give my dusty bottle of Old Monk Rum some love. While it is a darker, richer rum, I felt that it would fit in fine as well as donate some interesting vanilla notes to the drink. Lastly, the StarChefs website has a photo of the drink and shows a mint sprig in addition to the Angostura Bitters float as a garnish. Since it is not mint season here yet, I subbed in a lime twist for extra aromatics.
The Coffey Park Swizzle possessed a lime and Angostura Bitters aroma that had a pleasing vanilla note from the Old Monk Rum. The dark rum presented itself again in the sip where it joined the lime flavor; moreover, the swallow was rich with ginger and clove notes as well as the sherry's nuttiness. Indeed, I was quite pleased with how well the dark rum and the Amontillado sherry paired up. Finally, the drink ended with the last few sips containing the clove and spice bomb from the Angostura Bitters similar to the Bitter End.