christmas eve of destruction

1 1/2 oz Plantation OFTD Rum
1 1/2 oz Nutmeg Syrup (*)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Benedictine
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Blend with 1 cup of crushed ice for 4-6 seconds in a spindle blender (shake with crushed ice). Pour into a Zombie glass or Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with a lime wheel studded with cloves and dusted with freshly grated nutmeg (omit the nutmeg).
(*) Combine 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and 1 whole nutmeg grated. Bring to a slow boil, simmer covered for 10-15 minutes, and let steep for several hours. Strain through cheesecloth and bottle. I reduced this by 4 fold and utilized a coffee cup in the microwave with several 30-60 second heating cycles over the course of an afternoon. This syrup is also available in Grenada as I learned at a Tales of the Cocktail 2016 talk on nutmeg.

On my blog feed, I spotted an interview on the Atomic Grog blog with Beachbum Berry about the Sippin' Santa event. In the article was a recipe that was their interpretation of Sippin' Santa's Christmas Eve of Destruction, and they attributed the recipe to Brad Smith of Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29. I was able to find another recipe for the drink that had one ounce of each of the ingredients and one dash of bitters; however, that one was attributed to Cocktail Kingdom General Manager Joann Spiegel. In the Atomic Grog article, Berry stated that all of the drinks this year were created by Brad and himself, so perhaps the equal parts recipe was an older version (although it could be the correct one as well or misattributed). Regardless, I felt that the drink name allusion to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" was quite apt given the military activity in the Middle East that weekend.
The Christmas Eve of Destruction welcomed the nose with lime, clove, and nutmeg notes. Next, lime and caramel mingled on the sip, and the swallow launched in with rum, nutmeg, and clove flavors.