clown car

1 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Campari
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Honey Syrup 1:1
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

For my second drink two Sundays ago, I decided to create a drink based off of my luck with the honey, Amaro Montenegro, and lemon combination in the Golden Ticket and the much weirder All of Freud's Beautiful Women. Like the latter's inspiration, I had just come back from an art expedition with this one being at Fruitlands. There was a statue there called Clown by sculpture Joseph Wheelwright, and that got me thinking of the term clown car. Somehow I landed upon the split base of Fernet Branca and Campari known as a Ferrari shot, and that is perhaps how the name stuck given the vehicular theme with a lot of flavor packed into it. Instead of a liqueur component to stretch out the Gold Rush/Bee's Knees structure, I opted for passion fruit syrup which worked great with honey in the Don's Special Daiquiri. Moreover, passion fruit complemented Campari in cocktails like the Novara and Fernet in the Sea Beast. Without realizing it until later, I had previously put the trio together in the Cornerman.The Clown Car unpacked a lemon, passion fruit, and orange aroma. Next, lime, honey, and caramel notes climbed out of the sip, and the swallow performed with earthy bitter, orange, gentian, and menthol flavors and with a passion fruit and minty finish.