pampanito

1 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz SC's Molasses Syrup (*)
2 1/2 oz Seltzer Water
1/4 oz Allspice Dram
1 1/2 oz Diplomatico Mantuano Rum
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Flash blend with 12 oz crushed ice, pour into a Collins glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.
(*) 1 cup water, 2 cups sugar, 2 oz Brer Rabbit Mild Molasses. Heat and stir sugar and water to dissolve, add molasses, stir in, and turn off heat.

For my second talk on Thursday at Tales of the Cocktail, I attended a talk called "Falernum, Shrubs, & Mythical Caribbean Rum Liqueurs" presented by Ian Burrell (rum ambassador), Martin Cate (Smuggler's Cove), Benjamin Jones (Rhum Clement), and Richard Seale (Four Square). The seminar was a collection of product descriptions and lore about how each island in the Caribbean has its own set of small batch rum infusions with various flavors and spices. Many of these were aphrodisiacs that contain things like Horny Goat Weed and Bois Bande (translates to "hard wood") with names and nicknames to match. Others such as orange shrubb and falernum were less sexually charged with the former making good use of citrus surplus and the latter approaching a Daiquiri in cordial form. One of the drinks presented was Martin Cate's Pampanito that he based off his trip to Jamaica; there, he spoke to Appleton's distiller Joy Spence, and she described how molasses is mixed with lemonade on the island and of course sometimes they add rum to the mix. To continue with the Jamaican flavors, Martin added allspice dram, and he lightened the balance with the soda water. Martin alluded that there was another name for this drink that he created for Tales of the Cocktail one year, and that got changed when it did not match up with the talk's sponsor. The Smuggler's Cove book states that the recipe got its name from the USS Pampanito that was docked in San Francisco at the time.
The Pampanito was prepared at the presentation without a lemon twist so the nose was mostly dark molasses aromas. Next, a carbonated lemon sip shared darker notes from the rum and molasses, and the swallow was an elegant mingling of rum, molasses, and allspice flavors.