prizefighter no. 7

3/4 oz Salers Gentiane Liqueur
3/4 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
3/4 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof White Rum
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
6-8 leaf Mint
3-4 wedge Lemon
1 pinch Salt

Muddle lemon wedges, mint, and salt in simple syrup. Add the rest, whip shake, and strain into a rocks glass with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint bouquet and add straws.

Two Saturdays ago, I decided to make one of Nicholas Jarrett's variations on the Prizefighter that I had spotted on the BarNotes app. The gist of the series is an amaro-vermouth Smash (the citrus wedge-mint variety popularized at Eastern Standard et al.) with a pinch of salt to mollify the bitterness. I narrowed the list of 8 down to two that contained gentian liqueur and blanc vermouth, and Andrea picked the one that had the addition of overproof funky Jamaican rum. Jarrett described how he created this at The Cure in New Orleans, and it appears to be a variation on the rum-less version (No. 6) that he listed as a 2012 invention.
The Prizefighter No. 7 greeted the nose with a mint aroma. Next, lemon with light green herbal notes on the sip led into gentian and floral flavors on the swallow with a hint of mint and rum funk on the finish. Indeed, perhaps due to the salt, the drink was a lot less rum funky as well as less minty than expected.