rachel wall

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Amontillado Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Strega

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Sundays ago, I was inspired by the thought of Campari paired with Strega that worked well in the Count's Swizzle and I decided to riff on it. I ended up taking a Kingston Negroni angle with it but utilized Amontillado sherry to dry out the extra sugar brought to the table by the Strega liqueur. For a name, a harkened back to one of the curious rabbit holes that I went down while researching my "Toast the Historic Trees of Boston: A Walking Tour" for Angel's Envy's Toast the Trees month and went with Rachel Wall. Wall was New England's only woman pirate and the last woman to be hanged in Boston; however, she was not arrested on piracy charges. She and her husband turned to the pirating trade in 1781; they stole a ship, made it look like it was damaged by a recent storm, and Rachel would call out for assistance. When the rescuing ship would arrive, the pirates would board the ship and rob it, and their career totals were believed to be a dozen ships, $12,000 in plunder, and 24 sailors murdered. After her husband and other members of the crew drowned, she took to petty theft and highway robbery. Her downfall was stealing a bonnet, and during her trial, she requested to be tried as pirate despite that the sentence would be death. Her pride in her trade-lifestyle led to her being hung at the Great Elm on the Boston Common with a crowd of thousands looking on. The Great Elm itself was there when the city bought the Common as a cow pasture in the 1630s, and it lasted until a winter storm toppled it in 1875. All that remains is a plaque.The Rachel Wall as a drink proffered an orange aroma from the twist and the Campari. Next, a grape-driven sip led into funky rum, nutty grape, caramel, bitter orange, and herbal-spice flavors on the swallow.