hong kong cocktail

3/4 oz Bulleit Rye
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
3/8 oz Pimm's No. 1
1 dash Regan's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass (1-1/4:1-1/4:5/8:2 dash is closer to a standardized 3 oz recipe).

The third drink I selected to write about at the Diageo Cocktails Around the World Happy Hour was created by Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard in Boston. The Hong Kong Cocktail is his variation of a Manhattan that was "imagined to be created in the time of the British Admiralty's occupation of Hong Kong by an Italian-born steward named Giuseppe Reganini." Perhaps that Giuseppe Reganini is an allusion to Gary Regan whose orange bitters recipe donates some extra fruit notes to this cocktail.
The Hong Kong Cocktail began with a faint dark and citrus aroma. The sip was a rich vermouth-fruit combination from the Cocchi Americano and Pimm's that somewhat approached a classic Italian vermouth flavor. Finally, the Bulleit Rye finished the drink with spicy grain and barrel flavor that was supplemented by the bitter's orange peel notes. The more I thought about this delightful recipe, the more I realized that it reminded me of Jackson's Rye and Dry that appeared on the Pimm's section of the Eastern Standard menu back in 2008. The Rye and Dry, however, was a bit more earthy and called for dry vermouth and mole bitters in place of the Cocchi Americano and orange bitters.