carmen miranda

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Amaro Lucano
1/4 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1/8 oz Yellow Chartreuse
3 dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with either a floated dried banana chip (others) or a pineapple wedge and paper parasol (here).
Two Wednesdays ago, I attended an Amaro Lucano industry night at Park in Cambridge. One of the drinks that I had was a house original called the Carmen Miranda that came across like a tropical Black Manhattan given the banana aspect. Once built, the Carmen Miranda proffered pineapple and banana aromas. Next, the amaro donated caramel notes to the sip that were colored with tropical notes from the banana liqueur, and the swallow paired the rye with dark herbal notes with a return of the banana on the finish.

Going South
• 1 oz Diplomatico Reserva Rum
• 1 oz Amaro Lucano
• 1/4 oz Amontillado Sherry
• 1/4 oz Honey Syrup
• 2 dash Bittermens Burlesque Bitters
Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass, fill with fresh ice, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

The other drink I had was Tad Carducci's Going South that combined grape, honey, and rum flavors to the rich amaro in a rather delightful nightcap or Rum Manhattan sort of way.

town meeting

1 1/2 oz Infiniti Rhum Blanc
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Maurin Quina
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a Single Old Fashioned Glass. Garnish with lime oil.

Two Tuesdays ago, I headed over to Park Restaurant in Harvard Square where bartenders Nick Checchio and Luke Graham were at the stick. For a drink, I asked Nick for the Town Meeting, and he commented that it was most likely bartender Robert Grafton's creation. On paper, it came across like a hybrid of a Last Word and a Tiki drink, so I was intrigued. I was also curious about the agricole-style rum being produced by Infiniti in Portland, Maine, for I was only familiar with their beer that I had tried at Lord Hobo.
The Town Meeting began with a Green Chartreuse aroma that led into a lemon and cherry flavored sip. The swallow then offered the rhum's funk and the Chartreuse's herbal notes with a growing cinnamon finish.

damp hands of melancholy

1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
3/4 oz Shooting Star Syrah 2010 (*)
2 dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing two ice cubes. Flame an orange twist over the drink and garnish with a fresh one.
(*) Any big, dry, and tannic Syrah wine will do.

For a second drink at Park Restaurant in Harvard Square, I asked bartender Daren Swisher what else he had been tinkering with. Daren suggested a wine cocktail based off of a conversation with writer (and drink creator) Luke O'Neil about the difficulties of being a professional writer. In Luke's blog, he had a quote on this topic from James Thurber that contained the lines, "The notion that such persons [writers] are gay of heart and carefree are curiously untrue. ...The little wheels of their invention are set in motion by the damp hands of melancholy." Daren decided that he needed to craft a drink after that last phrase and set to work.
The Damp Hands of Melancholy began with orange oils and grape aromas. Grape was a common theme here for the sip was a sweet grape, and the swallow had more grape notes finishing with the dryness of wine tannins and the bitters' clove and cinnamon. Indeed, the drink was at first very grape, but after a few sips the balance began to change. Soon, the Amaro Montenegro's tangerine-mandarine and herbal complexity began to blossom as well as the clove from the bitters started to linger. While I attributed this to ice melt, Daren concluded that it was due to the build up of the Syrah's tannins on the tongue.

defender

1 1/2 oz Hayman's Old Tom Gin
1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Crème Yvette
3 dash Regan's Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Two Thursdays ago, I stopped into Park Restaurant in Harvard Square. The drink on the menu that caught my eye was the Defender. Bartender Daren Swisher explained that it was not a house original but one that appears in the Old Waldorf Bar Days from 1931; he explained the history about the recipe being named after an American sailing ship that defeated in the British in the late 19th century America's Cup races. The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book from 1935 explains, "The name of an American yacht which took care of one of Sir Thomas Lipton's early but seemingly endless 'Shamrocks.'"
The Defender's orange twist complemented the drink's gin and fruity aroma. The vermouth's grape and the Yvette's berry filled the sip, and the swallow began with gin and ended with a bitter floral finish. Overall, the Defender reminded me a lot of the classic Trilby.

tom terrific

1 3/4 oz Hayman's Old Tom Gin
1/2 oz Cherry Herring
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass containing ice cubes. Top with 2-3 oz Great Divide's Titan IPA, garnish with an orange slice and a cherry, and add a straw.

On Memorial Day after a cookout, I decided to set out on the town to see what was open. My adventure began at the new Park Restaurant in Harvard Square, and the drink that called out to me was the Tom Terrific. While Chris Balchum made my drink, I asked bartender Daren Swisher about the recipe. I started by asking about the beer choice since I had just heard Daren give a talk on beer along with TJ Curley's Kevin Mabry at a Boston Bartenders Collaborative meeting. Daren explained that he wanted a West Coast style of beer, and it originally was Green Flash's IPA before he switched to Great Divide's. In addition, the question served as a good avenue to get Daren talking about this riff on the Tom Collins which turned out to be a tribute to Patriot's quarterback Tom "Terrific" Brady. The beer choice represented Tom's home state of California where he grew up. Since Brady played college football in Michigan, Daren thought of the state's obsession with the cherry and opted for Cherry Heering liqueur. The earlier version of the drink included Myer lemon and black strap molasses which were later switched to regular lemon and simple syrup; however, there was no mention if the juice or the garnish somehow related to Brady's wins in the Citrus and Orange Bowls during college.

The cherry and orange slice garnish contributed greatly to the drink's aroma along with the IPA's hops. On the sip, the beer's malt and carbonation paired well with the lemon juice. Next, the liqueur's cherry and gin's juniper appeared on the swallow that ended dryly from the hops notes. Moreover, I was impressed at how well the hops complemented the gin -- an observation I first noted when I made a beer-laden French 75 variation for Mixology Monday.