havana 3 a.m.

1 1/2 oz Scotch (Cutty Sark Prohibition)
1/2 oz Jamaican Rum (Smith & Cross)
1/2 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan)
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Absinthe (20 drop Copper & Kings)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.One of the recipes that I make for Scotch-citrus requests at work is the Modernista recipe provided by Ted Haigh in his seminal Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails book. I took a page from the Havana Cocktail as adapted in Jeff Masson and Greg Boehm's Big Bartender's Book and added in apricot liqueur in place of the orange bitters in Haigh's recipe. For a name, I dubbed this one Havana 3 A.M. after the mid-80s rock group which took its name from a 1956 album by Pérez Prado. In the glass, the Havana 3 A.M. proffered rum funk and smoke aromas. Next, lemon and caramel in the sip danced away to smoky Scotch, rum funk, apricot, black tea, and anise flavors.