wake up call

1 1/2 oz Jeppson's Malört
3/4 oz Fruitful Grapefruit Liqueur
3/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a dehydrated cinnamon-dusted grapefruit quarter slice. Two weeks ago, I was in Colorado Springs to give a talk on the intangible heritage of cocktails at the Colorado Preservation group's conference. When I got into town on Wednesday, I was smart enough to only visit brewery taprooms in the area so I could be in somewhat decent shape for my talk on Thursday afternoon. During a practice run on Thursday morning, I did not expect what being over 6000 feet above sea level can do to a speaker (I live closer to 60 feet); I was used to the air dryness' effect from having been in Denver for the USBG conference back in June, but I did not anticipate the lower amount of oxygen in the air changing my ability to fit in as many words per breath. After the talk, I had a bartending shift at the happy hour where I made two drinks that I covered in my session – Brother Cleve's Ninth Ward and Ben Sandrof's 1919 Cocktail. A pretty intense four hour stretch between the talk and producing over 90 cocktails that had me in need of dinner and drinks of my own. After dinner, I headed into downtown to go to Shame & Regret that I had scoped out the week before by its name and the drink menu. Bartender Emily Kindt told me that I needed to go to Chiba, a Japanese cyberpunk anime bar that the bartender at the Burrowing Owl where I had dinner mentioned, but first, I needed to go to Cocktails After Dusk. In fact, Emily walked me over there to introduce me to the bar team there before doing a shot and heading back to her bar. My night ended at Chiba with a Carthusian Sazerac (no recipe acquired but listed on the menu as rye, Boomsma Cloosterbitter (to replace the Green Chartreuse they used to make it with), Angostura Bitters, Leopold Absinthe spritz) and also later bumping into one of the bartenders from Cocktails After Dusk after his shift. It was really touching how the bar scene took care of me from dinner until last call. Also, it probably helped that I was wearing a Fernet Branca t-shirt, or as I told my co-worker when I got home, "Tell me you're industry without telling me." Backtracking to Shame & Regret, the cocktail I had prepared by Emily was the Wake Up Call (not her recipe though) with Malört. She described how "Malört sums up shame and regret" before pointing out their wall of Malört-face photos and mentioning that the bar is the largest Malört account in Colorado. The Wake Up Call's Malört, grapefruit, and lime combination reminded me of the Tragedy Plus Lime but without the mezcal and sherry though. In the glass, the drink donated a cinnamon and grapefruit bouquet. Next, a semi-sweet and full bodied citrussy sip led into grapefruit, cinnamon, and herbal flavors on the swallow. Overall, the juices, syrup, and liqueur all helped to soften Malört's bitterness which made for it being a delight to drink!