of shoes and ships

1 1/2 oz Berkshire Mountain Distillers Greylock Gin
1/2 oz Creole Shrubb
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup (optional)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Build in a tall glass, add crushed ice, and swizzle to mix and chill. Top with crushed ice, garnish with a mint sprig and freshly grated nutmeg, and add a straw.
For Loyal Nine's The Walrus and The Carpenter event, I wanted to riff on the swizzled Pegu Club as that I had made before. To the grapefruit notes that are generated in the classic by orange liqueur, lime, and Angostura Bitters, I added to the bitter fruit complexity with some Aperol. In retrospect, this appears to be approaching the flavor profile of Paul Harrington's Jasmine, but I was not considering that drink at the time. With the British naval history of the Pegu Club in Burma, the poem line "Of Shoes and Ships" seemed appropriate. With all of the ice melt, I ended up adding a touch of simple syrup to modify it from how I would balance the shaken version of the drink.