transatlantic giant

1 1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon (Eagle Rare 10 Year)
1/2 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Sloe Gin (Plymouth)
1/2 oz Crème de Cacao (Marie Brizard)
3 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Wednesday last week, we ventured into the Beta Cocktails book and spotted the Transatlantic Giant. The drink was crafted by Colin Shearn of the Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. in Philidelphia; I met Colin at Tales last month where on two occasions he served me some of his creations using Root and Snap liqueurs (the other instance was at the William & Grant party, but I sadly did not take notes about the drinks there). The Transatlantic Giant would be my first opportunity to see what Colin could do when he was not promoting a product line, and the end result did indeed fit quite well into the Beta Cocktails dogma. With a motley assortment of domineering ingredients, the book declared that "nailing the proportions could not have been easy on this one." Not only did the recipe work, but it was rather dynamic and appeared as a different drink on almost every sip.
The Transatlantic Giant began with an aroma containing notes of the Smith & Cross, sloe gin, and chocolate. The somewhat sweet sip presented the Bourbon's malt notes along with the sloe gin's berry flavors. On the swallow, at times there was a lingering Smith & Cross flavor and at other times it was a Bourbon barrel flavor with lingering cacao notes. The Cynar was remarkably silent at first, but it entered gracefully into the equation later on in the drink. Of all the flavor pairings, the rum and crème de cacao may have been the most pleasing.