hercules

2 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Bittermens Molé Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass, fill with crushed ice, garnish with mint sprigs, and add a straw.

Two Wednesdays ago, I decided to remake my submission to the 2017 Lustau Solera Stand Out competition. I was inspired by my Negroni Week offering that melded the classic Negroni with the 1960s Tiki drink the Saturn that I called the Negroni on Saturn. In remembering how well Amontillado and Oloroso sherry go well with nutty orgeat and tropical passion fruit, I rearranged the drink to make a sherry-driven Tiki drink with sherry subbing in for gin and sweet vermouth in my mashup and with molé bitters taking the place of the falernum as the spice element. For a name, I kept the god theme of the Saturn and went with a related one, Hercules, who was allegedly buried in Cadiz, Spain, the center of sherry production.
The Hercules began with a mint aroma that led into a creamy grape sip with hints of lemon. Next, the swallow was nutty from the sherry and orgeat with passion fruit softening Campari's bitterness, and it ended with a chocolate and passion fruit finish.