bully pulpit

2 oz Mezcal (Peloton de la Muerte)
3/4 oz Rabarbaro (Bully Boy) (*)
1/4 oz Orange Liqueur (Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao)
2 dash Chocolate Bitters (Bittermens Mole)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.
(*) Zucca and Sfumato are other rabarbaros.

For an article on local amari that I am currently writing, I visited a few distilleries to get their stories, and I was tasked with creating a recipe for three of them. For Bully Boy in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, I selected their rabarbaro over their standard amaro (Montenegro-Nonino-like) and their rosso amaro (Campari-ish) to craft a recipe. Rabarbaros are made with the smoky, earthy, roasty, and bitter root of rhubarb which is very different from the fruity stalk above ground. Two famous rabarbaros are Zucca and Sfumato, and Bully Boy's is closer to Zucca with a touch of root beer notes akin to Ramazzotti. For a direction, I latched onto the rabarbaro-orange liqueur combination that I have tried in a pair of drinks, namely the Lush Interlude and Dark Matter. I used the 3:1 ratio that I extracted from Cure's Black & Bluegrass (overlooking the Aperol) that I used in the Devil's Staircase. For a spirit, I chose for mezcal (although I will offer up tequila as an option in the article) and accented it with mole bitters for depth and roundness. For a name, I dubbed this one the Bully Pulpit which is a conspicuous position that allows one to speak and be listened to and was coined by Teddy Roosevelt. In the glass, the Bully Pulpit shouted out orange, roast, vegetal, and smoke aromas. Next, the curaçao's orange note filled the sip and the swallow gave forth smoky vegetal, roast, and chocolate flavors.