little caribbean

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Plantation Pineapple Rum
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/4 oz Orgeat
2 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass pre-rinsed with Herbsaint, and garnish with a cherry.

Two Mondays ago, one of my friends and regulars stopped into the Smoke Shop for dinner. For one of his drinks, he requested a Manhattan. When I inquired if he wanted a classic, a riff, or even something tropical, he latched on to the last option for he had spent part of the weekend making Tiki drinks for a gathering. I decided to riff on the Martinique from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933, and I altered the rye whiskey base and pineapple juice into a split of rye and pineapple rum. Also, instead of sweet vermouth, I swapped in Punt e Mes embittered by Angostura and Peychaud's. When I got home, I decided to make my own using my homemade orgeat instead of the Giffard that we have at work. Moreover, I dubbed it the Little Caribbean after a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It began with a pineapple, anise, and rye aroma. Next, a creamy, grape, and tropical fruit sip slid into rye, rum, pineapple, bitter herbal, and anise flavors on the swallow.