ardent spirit

1 oz Old Ipswich Tavern Style Aged Rum
1 oz Cynar
1 oz Cocchi Sweet Vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
For Andrea's first cocktail at the Barrel House in Beverly, she picked the Ardent Spirit which came across as somewhere between a rum Little Italy and a Negroni riff. The drink was another of Sean Maher's, and the name refers to the old alchemy term for liquors produced after distilling fermented vegetation due to their ability to burn. Once mixed, the Ardent Spirit's orange twist contributed greatly to the nose. A caramel and grape sip led into a swallow that displayed a great transition from the funky aged rum into the herbal Cynar.