the third oath

2 1/2 oz Plantation OFTD Rum
1 1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
2 dash Aromatic Bitters (Angostura)
1 dash Absinthe (20 drop St. George)

Shake with crushed ice, pour into a snifter glass (Tiki mug), and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a mint sprig (omit the mint).

Two Tuesdays ago, we were in a tropical mood, so I reached for the Minimalist Tiki book. There, I latched on to the Third Oath by Jason Alexander that seemed like a cinnamon-syrup forward Jet Pilot or 1934 Zombie (without the grenadine). I probably put this one off for a bit due to the three and six times larger amount of cinnamon syrup to those classics, respectively, but it seemed like a good time to try something edgy.
The Third Oath welcomed the nose with a cinnamon aroma that melded into funky rum notes. Next, caramel, grapefruit, and lime on the sip led into burly rum, cinnamon, and cherry flavors on the swallow with a mixed spice element on the finish. The cherry flavor is not something that I have noticed before in OFTD but one that is apparent in my Lemon Hart 151; perhaps it came out due to the interaction with the cinnamon. Overall, the big rum presence balanced the cinnamon syrup rather elegantly instead of coming across like a mouthful of Fireball (then again, I am using a syrup derived from cinnamon sticks and not chemicals like the flavored whiskey).