banana dance

3/4 oz Aged Rum (Plantation Barbados 5 Year)
3/4 oz Port (Taylor Fladgate Ruby)
1/2 oz Crème de Banana (Gifford's Banane du Brésil)
1 Lemon Peel (around 2 square inches)
1 Egg Yolk

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe glass. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon.
For Mixoloseum's Thursday Drink Night two weeks ago, the theme was "double entendre." In searching for an idea, I began perusing essays on the classic burlesque scene for the genre is ripe with double entendres in addition to strong helpings of parody and risqué sexuality. My search eventually took me to some of the performances of Josephine Baker, and I instantly recalled the delicious dessert cocktail named after her from the 1935 Cuban La Florida Cocktail Book. The performance that caught my eye was her infamous "banana dance" (video) that she first performed in the mid-1920s, and with a swapping of crème de banana for the original's apricot liqueur, the idea was set into motion. I also changed the spirit from Cognac to rum and removed the additional sugar in the recipe.
The drink offered up a cinnamon and banana aroma that led into a creamy, fruity sip that contained the port's grape and lemon peel's brightness. The port continued on into the beginning of the swallow along with the aged rum, and the swallow ended with banana and spice notes from the cinnamon garnish.