fedora 2.1

1 oz Equiano Original Rum
1/2 oz Uncle Nearest 1856 Tennessee Whiskey
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup
3 dash Chocolate Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass, and garnish with an orange twist and a cherry.Two Tuesdays ago, I attended an Uncle Nearest Whiskey and Equiano Rum event at Shore Leave entitled "Cocktails & Stories." For the Equiano part, rum ambassador Ian Burrell was inspired by Tom Bullock's 1917 The Ideal Bartender as the first cocktail book written by a black bartender, and it was a perfect tie in to Black History Month. Ian began by sharing Tom's dedication and part of the introduction in the book that read, "This cocktail will be for those men and women who enjoy to drink in snug club rooms... And if for some reason we are not able to travel, then may they find this recipe and learn the art of preparing for themselves what is good." For a recipe, Ian found the Fedora which I learned as a three ingredient Sidecar (brandy, Bourbon, Jamaican rum). The original in Harry Johnson's 1882 New and Improved Bartender's Manual has a lemon slice included in the shake, and Stan Jones' 1977 Complete Barguide has it as a full ounce of lemon juice; however, Bullock left the lemon aspect out. To the 1917 recipe, Ian utilized Grand Marnier to take the place of both the Curaçao and brandy elements and rounded out the recipe with vanilla and chocolate accents. This Fedora 2.1 began with orange, caramel, and cherry aromas. Next, a caramel sip gave way to rum, whiskey, spice, orange, and vanilla flavors on the swallow.

divine intervention

1 1/2 oz Santa Teresa Rum
1/2 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a double old fashioned glass with a large ice cube.Two Mondays ago, I was invited to be a judge for the Daiquiri Showdown at Shore Leave for Boston Rum Week. Five of the six contestants had recipes that required specialty ingredients, but the one that utilized all off the shelf bottles and simple juices and syrups was the one that I jotted down the measurements for putting on the blog and my Instagram. That one was the Divine Intervention by Ian Wolf of Shore Leave, and his drink of a classic Daiquiri utilizing 3 parts rich Santa Teresa Rum to 1 part funky and overproof Smith & Cross ended up placing third. My tasting notes were that it began with a caramel and rum funk nose. Next, the caramel continued on into the sip where it mingled with the lime, and the swallow wrapped things up with rum and tropical notes from the Jamaican rum.

daiquiri variation (daren swisher)

2 oz Bacardi Ocho Rum
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Panela Syrup (*)
3 dash Coffee Cordial
10 drop Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.
(*) Panela is a raw sugar derived from evaporated cane juice (boiled but not centrifuged) popular in Latin America.Two Mondays ago, I attended the Daiquiri Dossier event at Shore Leave in Boston hosted by the Rum Reader. The site's Ben Schaffer acted as moderator to a panel of Kyisha Davenport of the BarNoirBoston hospitality collective, Ryan Lotz of Shore Leave and other spots in the Traveler Street Hospitality group, Nika Orlovsky of the Baldwin Bar, and Daren Swisher of Daiquiris & Daisies. The panel discussed what an ideal Daiquiri meant to them, what were the ranges of acceptable variations to still feel like a Daiquiri, and what was the ideal balance for each of them. There was also a mention of Boston's tie in with the Daiquiri including the Daiquiri Time Out (I did chime in with observations mentioned in that link where I interviewed DTO founder Andrew Dietz). Over the course of the discussion, seven different Daiquiris were served as composed by the panelists using the sponsors' rums. Three of these seven were rather classic combinations of rum, lime, and sugar of some sort, but the other four had other sweeteners, juices, or accents like bitters. My favorite of the bunch was the one crafted by Daren Swisher as a riff of the Captain's Blood; I was able to track the Captain's Blood back to the 1947 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide as 1 1/2 oz Jamaican rum, 1/2 oz lime juice, 1 tsp Angostura Bitters. Here, Daren besides using Angostura Bitters utilized a darker sugar as well as touches of coffee cordial. This Daiquiri variation yielded caramel and coffee aromas. Next, caramel and lime notes on the sip sailed into rum, coffee, and allspice flavors on the swallow.

dawn of hospitality

2 oz Old Overholt Rye
1/2 oz Borghetti Espresso Liqueur
1/4 oz Pineapple Syrup
6-7 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass rinsed with absinthe, and garnish with a lemon twist.Two Tuesdays ago, I was leaving my second day of training to re-open Drink (closed for 4 1/2 months for structural work and to stop the flooding when it rained) and ended up at Shore Leave after a dinner in Chinatown. There, I found a seat in front of bartender Abigail Winn who I asked for a Dawn of Hospitality; it was subtitled on the menu with "If we were on vacation, we'd hope this tropical-inspired Sazerac would be for breakfast." The concept of a Sazerac with coffee flavors was one that I had tried in the Mid-City and with pineapple syrup in the Bounty, but never in the same glass. Here, a lemon and anise bouquet greeted the nose. Next, roast and fruity notes on the sip slid into rye, root beer, and coffee flavors on the swallow.

morale & welfare

1 1/2 oz Plantation OFTD Overproof Rum
3/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe with an ice cube.

Two and a half weeks ago, La Brasa held its monthly E-Som (East Somerville) Market, and the guest bartender was Ryan Lotz representing Shore Leave (he is also the bar director of Bar Mezzana and Black Lamb). I have known Ryan for over 9 years since he was at the helm of the cocktail program at Lineage, and it was both an honor and a lot of fun to share the bar with him. Ryan mentioned that he was working a bar shift that Friday night, and I figured that it would be convenient to stop by after I took the first cut at Area Four as Shore Leave is two blocks away.
The drink that I selected two Fridays ago was the Morale & Welfare whose name reminded me of another Daiquiri riff, the Death & Sundries, and it was subtitled "This Daiquiri variation will keep your spirits high." The Morale & Welfare greeted the nose with dark rum notes with a hint of funk. Next, a caramel, lime, and grapefruit sip slid into a funky rum swallow with a cinnamon and chocolate finish.

probitas swizzle

2 oz Probitas Rum
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Mathilde Crème de Peche
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
2 dash Absinthe
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Flash blend with crushed ice, pour into a tall glass, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a pineapple leaf, orchid, and smoldering cinnamon stick.

Two Tuesdays ago, the Boston chapter of the USBG hosted Richard Seale of Four Square Distillery in Barbados with a talk entitled "A Conversation about Rum." Before Richard spoke at Shore Leave (a/k/a the Rum Dungeon), bartender Jace Sheehan was making drinks with Four Square's new Probitas Rum. As Richard described later, Probitas is actually a collaboration between Four Square and Hampden Distillery in Jamaica; this 94 proof rum is a combination of 2 year old pot and unaged column still spirit from Barbados and unaged pot still from Jamaica. During the talk, Richard described how the goal was to make a flavorful white rum and to bring back the concept of a rum blend being made in the Caribbean opposed to Europe, America, or elsewhere. Richard had wanted this to be an unaged product, but he felt that his pot still rum tasted better with a little aging. Thus, the end result is not purely a white rum for it has a slight yellow tint to it due to the two years that the pot still Barbados element mellowed in used oak casks.

The drink that I requested from Jace was the Probitas Swizzle which lured me in with its fancy garnish (the other two offerings were served in cocktail coupes). Here, the cinnamon smoke greeted the senses before a lime-driven sip. Next, the funky rum on the swallow transitioned into a peach-cinnamon combination that worked as well as the apricot-cinnamon one did in the Southern Belle and Transatlantic Orbit.