el morro

1 1/4 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
3/4 oz Tres Agaves Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
1/2 oz Grenadine
8 drop Hibiscus Flower Water (*)
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice and strain in to a small cocktail coupe.
(*) In a pinch, sub another flower water.

One of the recipes that caught my eye on the new Russell House Tavern cocktail menu was the El Morro. Created by bar manager Ashish Mitra, the combination of sherry, Byrrh, and tequila was one that would certainly draw me into ordering it off the menu. Ashish described El Morro as, "named for a Spanish Fort I visited in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, ...[that] was featured in Pirates of the Caribbean. This cocktail reminds me of sitting at the Convento Hotel Bar just down the street from the Fort -- open air in the middle veranda of the hotel. Tropical plant life everywhere, thunderstorms every 6-8 hours, sultry Latin music, cigars, and dancing."
The El Morro began with sweet and savory grape aromas from the sherry and Byrrh that were accented by the pomegranate. The grape and pomegranate continued on into the sip, and the swallow offered nutty, quinine, and savory spice on the finish.