oahu gin sling

2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Crème de Cassis (G.E. Massenez)
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 tsp Sugar (omitted)

Shake with ice and strain into a Pilsner glass containing 3 oz soda water, a long wide lime spiral, and ice.

After making the Ginger-Lime Rum Daiquiri, I was still in a rum mood so I reached for Beachbum Berry's Remixed. Instead of getting lured in by another sugar-cane spirit-driven recipe, it was a gin one. The Oahu Gin Sling struck me as a cross between a Mississippi Mule (gin, cassis, lemon -- a combination that Misty Kalkofen used in her Temporary Fix) and a Straits Sling (gin, Benedictine, Cherry Heering, lemon, soda). Berry attributed the recipe to Thomas Mario, the food and drink editor of Playboy Magazine circa 1970.
The long horse's neck lime garnish added a bounty of lime oil notes to the dark fruity aroma from the cassis. Next, the sip was a carbonated lime and dark berry flavor that led into a gin and Benedictine herbal swallow with black currant to round off the drink with tart bass notes. Overall, the Oahu Gin Sling was rather gin forward with the Beefeater, and the cassis in place of cherry took the Singapore Sling-style drink in a novel direction.