bewitched blossom

2 oz Appleton 8 Year Rum (Appleton Signature)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz 66° Brix Honey Syrup (3/4 oz 1:1)
1/4 oz Ginger Syrup
1/8 - 1/4 tsp Sriracha Hot Sauce (1/4 tsp)
2 Strawberries

Muddle strawberries, add rest of the ingredients, shake with ice, and double strain into a 10 oz goblet glass (6 oz Fizz glass).

Two Mondays ago, I found my list of the drinks to make from the Tropical Standard book by Garret Richard and Ben Schaffer that did not require any acidification or other fancy techniques, and I spotted the Bewitched Blossom that called for strawberries that I currently had on hand. Garret was inspired by Li Po's signature spicy Chinese Mai Tai in San Francisco, and he took the hot sauces aspect of it in the direction of Donn Beach's Queen's Road. To balance off the spice, he mollified things with fruit akin to black currant in the Diablo and raspberry in the Florodora. With the strawberry in place, he named his creation after a line from a poem by Li Po of the Tang dynasty called "A Message to Meng Haoran."

The Bewitched Blossom welcomed the senses with a strawberry and red pepper aroma. Next, lime and honey notes on the sip unfurled into rum, strawberry, pepper heat, and ginger spice flavors on the swallow.