colonel plug

2 oz Bourbon (Old Grand-Dad Bonded)
1/2 oz Don's Spices #2 (1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup + 1/4 oz Hamilton's Allspice Dram)
1/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Saturdays ago, I posted my entry into the Elijah Craig Old Fashioned competition. I was inspired by my Cave-in-Rock tropical Bourbon drink and my Pickwick Club pineapple rum Old Fashioned. For the question of what was the inspiration or thought process behind creating my cocktail, I answered, "The vanilla, spice including allspice, and orange-like sweet fruit notes that I find in Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon sent me thinking in a tropical or Tiki direction instead of the more classic recipes like Manhattans I find myself using it in. Don's Spices #2 (equal parts vanilla and allspice liqueur) was one of Donn the Beachcomber's favorite tricks, and the duo parallels those barrel notes in the Bourbon from the oak stave air-aging and barrel-charring processes. The fruitier notes from most likely the yeast strain in the fermentation got my mind on passion fruit to round things out. And finally, chocolate molé bitters gave the combination some more depth and toned down the brightness of the modifiers a touch." Another question asked was how does this cocktail reflect my skills, creativity, traits, values, and/or experiences as a bartender, and I replied, "I have an interest in history and classic cocktails through professional bartending, book and blog writing, reading dozens of books each year, and home mixology. And here, I was able to tap into my love of Tiki and tropical drinks which is a less serious side project compared to classic and modern cocktail Renaissance recipes. The drink creation process for this one utilized a lot of the tricks I have learned from mentors like tasting the spirit neat to gain inspiration, thinking of flavors and modules that can be swapped to maintain balance, and the like. While at the menu-less speakeasy Drink, I took a request for Bourbon and vanilla and used a similar mindset to craft a juice-driven tropical drink on the fly. With my love of history, I dubbed it Cave-In-Rock after a hiding place of Ohio River pirates. I used the same thinking here that Bourbon has more to do with that sort of water travel down rivers than exotic islands in the seas. Therefore, I named this drink after a famous river pirate back in the day, Colonel Plug."

In the glass, the Colonel Plug donated an orange, floral, and vanilla bouquet to the nose. Next, melon and orange notes on the sip sailed into Bourbon, allspice, passion fruit, and vanilla flavors on the swallow with a chocolate finish. Overall, it was a touch brighter than I would have liked, but I was limited in ingredient number and did not go with the addition of a dark rum to provide depth (as well as to not distract from the Bourbon brand as the sponsor and highlight of it all).