probitas swizzle

2 oz Probitas Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Mathilde Crème de Peche
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
2 dash Absinthe
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Flash blend with crushed ice, pour into a tall glass, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple leaf, orchid, and smoldering cinnamon stick.

Two Tuesdays ago, the Boston chapter of the USBG hosted Richard Seale of Four Square Distillery in Barbados with a talk entitled "A Conversation about Rum." Before Richard spoke at Shore Leave (a/k/a the Rum Dungeon), bartender Jace Sheehan was making drinks with Four Square's new Probitas Rum. As Richard described later, Probitas is actually a collaboration between Four Square and Hampden Distillery in Jamaica; this 94 proof rum is a combination of 2 year old pot and unaged column still spirit from Barbados and unaged pot still from Jamaica. During the talk, Richard described how the goal was to make a flavorful white rum and to bring back the concept of a rum blend being made in the Caribbean opposed to Europe, America, or elsewhere. Richard had wanted this to be an unaged product, but he felt that his pot still rum tasted better with a little aging. Thus, the end result is not purely a white rum for it has a slight yellow tint to it due to the two years that the pot still Barbados element mellowed in used oak casks.

The drink that I requested from Jace was the Probitas Swizzle which lured me in with its fancy garnish (the other two offerings were served in cocktail coupes). Here, the cinnamon smoke greeted the senses before a lime-driven sip. Next, the funky rum on the swallow transitioned into a peach-cinnamon combination that worked as well as the apricot-cinnamon one did in the Southern Belle and Transatlantic Orbit.