penn r.r. sour

1 tsp Simple Syrup
2 tsp Lemon Juice
2/3 wine glass Old Crow Whiskey (1 1/2 oz Bulleit Bourbon)
1/3 wine glass Sweet Vermouth (3/4 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino)

Stir with ice and strain into a Sour glass garnished with fruit. Add a dash of Jamaican rum (1 tsp Smith & Cross, floated) and a dash of abricotine (1/4 tsp Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot, floated).

Two Saturdays ago, the drink that called out to me was the Penn R.R. Sour from James Maloney 1900 book, The Twentieth-Century Cocktail Guide for Mixing Fancy Drinks. Maloney paid tribute to the Pennsylvania Railroad which reached out from the East Coast westward to where he worked in Chicago. While the Sour did not have his trademarked bell-ringer rinse of apricot brandy, the liqueur was included as a floated dash to contribute to the drink's aromatics.
At first, both the rum and apricot aromas dominated the nose; part of the way through the glass though, the rum's contribution dissipated and the Bourbon began to appear. On the tongue, the crisp grape sip led into a whiskey and tart lemon swallow that had hints of funky rum notes. The drink did come across as a soured Manhattan in an acidic and not especially a citrus sort of way; moreover, stirring the Sour instead of shaking it was also quite unusual. In addition, the Penn R.R. Sour shared similarities in composition to his Manhattan Bell-Ringer.