one night in bangkok

1 1/2 oz Barsol Pisco
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe.
For Loyal Nine's Yacht Rock Sunday menu, I mentioned my first pass at the One Night Bangkok which morphed into The Devil Walking Next To Me when I realized that the bottle I thought was allspice dram at the bar was actually Nux Alpina. To that structure (which I made at home), I swapped Batavia Arrack for pisco at work, kept the sweet vermouth and lime juice, and switched the two liqueurs to Benedictine and orange liqueur. While sweet vermouth has worked well in Sours, it seemed a little out of place here, and I ended up dropping it and upping the two liqueurs to resemble a Peruvian Honeymoon.

i can't dance

2 1/4 oz Blandy's 5 Year Sercial Madeira
3/4 oz Averna
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters
3 slice Orange

Muddle orange slices, add rest of the ingredients and ice, shake, and double strain into a Collins glass. Fill with crushed ice, garnish with a fresh orange slice, and add a straw.

For the inaugural yacht rocktail menu at Loyal Nine, I wanted to do a Cobbler since we have an awesome Hoshizaki crushed ice maker at work. And of course it is a great style of 19th century drink, and one that is perfect to showcase fortified wines as base spirits. Since our spirits program at Loyal Nine focuses on spirits commonly found during the Colonial days, namely rum, brandy, and Madeira, it was not too hard to figure out which bottles I would be focusing on here. For inspiration, I turned to Bellocq's Sea Dog and changed around proportions, switched the demerara syrup to Averna, and orange peels to orange slices. The drink name came by way one of the servers, Gregorio, as his contribution to the drink list tapestry.
The drink has been so refreshing and delicious that it has become one of the shift drinks requested even on days other than Yacht Rock Sundays. Before the ice melts, the flavor profile is more dark and rich with a walnut undertone and a Madeira-driven balanced acid backbone to it. As the ice melts, the drink becomes more orange forward until the end which tastes mostly like fresh (but watery) orange. What works so well is that the dark notes of the amaro and bitters pair well with each other and complement the dried fruit notes of the Madeira (see tasting notes on Madeira types); moreover, the dried orange notes in the Madeira match elegantly with the fresh ones from the muddled fruit.

maneater

1 1/2 oz Privateer Silver Rum
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Rhum Clement Creole Shrubb
1/4 oz Campari

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Twist a grapefruit peel over the top and discard.
The staff at Loyal Nine got really into the naming of the drinks for Yacht Rock Sundays. While the Hungry Like the Wolf was my own name, many of the other names came from the servers and the kitchen staff. In fact, Chef Marc Sheehan is still quite proud that his drink name and pastel-y concept for week #2 became the first drink to knock Hungry Like the Wolf off the pedestal (but more on that drink later). This one, the Maneater, came from two of the servers, Matt and Sean, who figured that a Cosmo variant named after a Hall & Oates song would be a crowd pleaser. From the spirit, citrus, orange liqueur, and red element of the neo-classic Cosmopolitan, I ended up being influenced by the High Noon's spirit, orange liqueur, Campari, and grapefruit combination and switched the base to white rum and changed the proportions. However, my hint of Campari in this "Cosmo on the Riviera" just felt out of balance here with the grapefruit to the point that it was a bit flabby and thus the Campari came across as too bitter. To fix things, I knocked the grapefruit back from 3/4 oz to 1/2 oz and added a 1/2 oz of lime juice with all the rest of the elements in the recipe held constant. Indeed, I utilized the structure of a Hemingway Daiquiri to save the day. Problem solved, deliciously so.

hungry like the wolf

1 oz Four Roses Bourbon
1 oz Pimm's No. 1
1/2 oz St. Elder Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing 2 oz ginger beer. Fill with crushed ice, garnish with a lemon twist, and add straws.
Three Sundays ago was the first Yacht Rock Sunday at Loyal Nine. For the inaugural list that was paper clipped to the main drink menu, I had six drinks all named after yacht rock tunes. By far, the most popular drink that night was the Hungry Like the Wolf subtitled "Mouth is alive with juices like Bourbon," and it has done quite well the next two Sundays. I am not sure if it was due to the Duran Duran influence, the fact that it was Bourbon-based, or just that it contained crowd-pleasing ginger notes. The idea was inspired by the Twelve Gauge; however, the only ingredient that remained from that recipe at the end was the whiskey. The final product was a morph of a Pimm's Cup and a Bourbon Buck. To the Bourbon backbone, fruit notes from the Pimm's, elderflower, and lemon mingled with spice from the ginger beer and floral notes from the St. Elder.

battle of puebla

1 oz Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal (*)
1 oz Ancho Reyes Chili Liqueur
1 oz Amaro Nonino
1/4 oz Crème de Cacao
1 dash Regan's Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with an orange twist and add straws.
(*) 90% mezcal, 10% agave nectar will work here. Averna would also sub well for the Nonino.
A few Tuesdays ago, we ventured down to Lincoln Tavern in Southie where bartenders Nicole Lebedevitch and Kevin Mabry were at the stick. For a first drink, I asked Kevin for the Battle of Puebla. Once prepared, it offered an orange oil aroma that led into a caramel-driven sip. The swallow was a bit more complex with smoky mezcal and pepper heat with an herbal chocolate finish and lingering spice.

the devil walking next to me

1 1/4 oz Batavia Arrack
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Salers Gentiane Liqueur
1/4 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with a lime wheel.

A few Fridays ago, in gearing up for Loyal Nine's inaugural Yacht Rock Sunday, I started tinkering with a few ideas. I knew that I wanted to call one of the drinks One Night in Bangkok. I figured that Batavia Arrack was the way to go given the bar's stock, and I was considering a merge of a Floridita and my Sinnerman Swizzle. Unfortunately, this drink never made the list for the bottle that I thought was Allspice Dram on the backbar at work was actually Nux Alpina. Therefore, I renamed this one The Devil Walking Next to Me from a lyric from One Night in Bangkok, and the drink named after that song became an easier drinking pisco number.
This drink though began with lime, Batavia Arrack funk, and hints of allspice. Like the Floridita, the sip was lime and a fruitiness from the sweet vermouth (albeit without the Floridita's pomegranate element). Finally, the swallow was much more complex with funky rum, earthy gentian notes, and spicy allspice accents. The combination of sweet vermouth, gentian, and allspice worked just as well here as it did my inspiration, Mike Fleming's Sinnerman at Westbridge.

tango 'til they're sore

1 oz Rye Whiskey (Old Overholt)
3/4 oz Peychaud's Bitters
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with a big ice cube.

A few Wednesdays ago, I spotted a curious drink on ShakeStir by Rafa García Febles of Shelter Pizza in New York City called Tango 'til They're Sore. Rafa explained his drink as, "A sloppy, booze-scented wet kiss to New Orleans, spotlighting its homegrown bitters against a backdrop of its favorite spirit, rye. I took inspiration from the Fritz, an equal parts drink of gin/vermouth/Peychaud's/Maraschino, played with the proportions a bit, and watched rye brawl gin to victory." Indeed, he was influenced by Ryan Lotz's Fritz which in turn was influenced by my inverse Sazerac Cocktail, The Gerty.
The Tango 'til They're Sore began with rye aromas spiced by anise from the Peychaud's Bitters. Malt and grape on the sip transitioned to more whiskey flavors on the swallow along with cherry, bitter complexity, and anise and other spice notes.

peacefield

1 oz Plantation 3 Star White Rum
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a large glass filled with cracked ice. Garnish with mint leaves and add straws.

A few Tuesdays ago, I ventured down the Red Line to get to Quincy Center for a visit to the Townshend. When I was greeted by bartenders Sage and Devin Adams, I was surprised to learn that they had only been open for two weeks. I had not been tracking on the time line buzz but made my decision that night because Sage had checked in via the OnTheBar app when I was looking for ideas for the evening. For a first drink, I asked Sage for the Peacefield. Sage explained that the drink was named after the home and farmstead of John Adams and later John Quincy Adams located not too far from the restaurant. The rum base seemed natural for the recipe as the oldest part of the house was built by someone involved in the rum industry from Jamaica.
The Peacefield's mint garnish contributed greatly to the aroma. Lime and a vague fruitiness from the pineapple filled the sip, and the swallow was a combination of the rum, the rest of the pineapple notes, and the Green Chartreuse's herbal elements. Overall, the Peacefield reminded me of a cacao-less Pago Pago, and the presentation was just as enjoyable as the flavor profile.

chocolate negroni

1 1/2 oz Gin (Bluecoat)
1 oz Campari
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz White Crème de Cacao (Marie Brizard)

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with an orange twist.

Three Sundays ago, I reached for the Stir Your Soul recipe book from Tales of the Cocktail 2010, and I found a great recipe to kick off the official start of Negroni Week -- namely, the Chocolate Negroni. The recipe was crafted at the Bayswater Brasserie in Sydney, Australia, and was featured in "The World's Biggest Bar Crawl" event at Tales in 2009. Since subbing Punt e Mes for sweet vermouth is my usual call when I request Negronis, this drink seemed right up my alley. In addition, the crème de cacao in the Punt e Mes Negroni made me wonder if it would work as well as in the Punt e Mes Manhattan, the Coney Island.
The orange twist over the Chocolate Negroni contributed greatly to the drink's bouquet. The Punt e Mes' grape led off the sip, and the swallow was a familiar trio of gin, Campari, and Punt e Mes bitter notes. True to its name, the chocolate reared itself on the finish and pleasantly built up over successive swallows.