desk job

3/4 oz Zacapa 23 Rum (Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva)
3/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
3/4 oz Cynar

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass with ice, and garnish with a lime twist.
For a nightcap after my Thursday night bar shift two weeks ago, I returned to Food & Wine: Cocktails 2016 and landed on the Desk Job. The recipe was crafted by Donny Clutterbuck of Rochester's Cure as his happy hour drink if he had a desk job. The dual rums, vermouth, and Cynar aspect reminded me of the Blossom Bar's Palm Viper, but here there was extra depth from a bitter vermouth and a funky rum. Once prepared, the Desk Job's lime oils from the twist joined the caramel and rum funk bouquet on the nose. Next, grape and caramel paired elegantly on the sip, and the swallow brought forth funky rum matching funky bitter flavors.

minsky

2/3 Bacardi (2 oz Barbancourt 8 Year + 1/4 oz Smith & Cross)
2 dash Cointreau (1/4 oz)
2 dash Kümmel (1/4 oz Helbing)
2 dash Maraschino (1/4 oz Luxardo)

Stir with ice and strain.
After my bar shift two Wednesdays ago, I dove into Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 for a nightcap. There, the Minsky with its spirit, Maraschino, and kümmel reminded me of William Schmidt's 1891 Gladstone from a few weeks ago, so I was curious to see what a rum-forward cousin would be like. In the glass, the Minsky proffered Jamaican rum funk and hints of caraway to the nose. Next, caramel from the aged rum on the sip gave way to rum, nutty, and orange flavors on the swallow with a cumin followed by caraway finish.

spider of the evening

1 oz Blanco Tequila (Cimmarron)
1 oz Swedish Punsch (Kronan)
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Build in a Collins glass, fill with crushed ice, and swizzle to mix and chill. Garnish with 3 dash mole bitters (Bittermens) and add a straw.

Two Tuesdays ago, I set out to craft a Swizzle utilizing Katie Emerson's tribute to the Death & Co. formula, the Company Swizzle, as my recipe skeleton. For a spirit and fortified wine combination, my mind drifted to tequila and Swedish punsch which worked great in my Metexa riff Chutes & Ladders. While Swedish punsch is not a fortified wine, it can act as a substitute for one as demonstrated in Crosby Gaige's 1941 Corpse Reviver #2 which swapped the punsch for the original's Lillet. Tequila and Swedish punsch went rather well with Campari in the Mambo #5, and Campari and passion fruit are a match made in heaven as I first discovered in the Novara. Finally, lime juice and molé bitters garnish were the last two elements of the Company Swizzle format to round out the recipe.
My Eyes on the Table named after Remedios Varo kept me in the surrealist painting mindset, so I began looking over Salvador Dali works. Given the tequila aspect, I did confirm that Dali visited Mexico, but he found that he could not stay there, for "There is no way I'm going back to Mexico. I can't stand to be in a country that is more surrealist than my paintings." His 1940 Spider of the Evening seemed to connect with the feel of the drink and won out here. In the glass, the Swizzle donated a chocolate aroma from the bitters that later allowed hints of the agave spirit through. Next, lime and a touch of passion fruit danced on the sip, and the swallow gave forth tequila and a tropical orange flavor that came across in an almost grapefruity way.

french aquatics

2 oz Orgeat
1 oz Calvados (Boulard VSOP)
1 oz VS Cognac (Courvoisier)
1/2 oz Hamilton's Demerara 151 Proof Rum (Lemon Hart 151)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice

Shake with ice and pour into a Collins glass.

For a drink to round out that Monday night two weeks ago, I perused Food & Wine: Cocktails 2016 for a recipe idea. There, I landed upon the French Aquatics crafted by Cleveland bartender Shannon Smith at the Tiki Room and Porco Lounge. His creation paid tribute to French ingredients in classic Tiki, and here, orgeat, Calvados, and Cognac were three of the main players in a Scorpion Bowl-like number.
The French Aquatics greeted the nose with apple and nutty aromas with a brightness from the citrus. Next, a creamy sip shared tropical notes from the pineapple, and the swallow gave forth apple, Cognac, pineapple, and nutty orgeat flavors to make for a rather fruity but complex refresher.

improved dunlop

2 oz Croft Reserve Tawny Port
1 oz Clement 6 Year Rhum Agricole
1/4 bsp Cane Syrup
1 dash Mole Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Two Mondays ago, I attended a seminar on port wine at the Hawthorne given by Chris Forbes, a Fladgate Export Manager, and Andy Seymour of Liquid Productions. Throughout the seminar, we tasted various ports as well as a handful of port cocktails crafted by Liquid Production's Lulu Martinez. One of my favorites of the collection was a simple modification of the Dunlop that appeared in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book. The Savoy's Dunlop was a 2:1 rum to sherry cocktail embittered by Angostura akin to Trader Vic's Arawak. Here, the fortified wine was swapped to tawny port, the rum to wine proportions were inversed, and the bitters were changed to chocolate molé. Andy started his talk by describing how underdog spirits can be introduced to people using cocktails as a bridge, and this strategy worked wonders for gin, mezcal, and sherry. So here, a sherry drink was elegantly modified into a port one.
The Improved Dunlop greeted the senses with bright grapefruit oils that countered darker notes from the port on the nose. Next, the sip showcased a crisp grape note, and the swallow had grassy rhum meeting earthy grape and dried fruit notes with a chocolate and acid-rich finish.

le negociant

1 oz Rhum Agricole (Rhum Clement Premiere Canne)
1 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
1/2 oz St. Germain (St. Elder)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Sundays ago, I was inspired by a thread about St. Germain recipes on Facebook to make a recipe called Le Negociant. I was able to trace the recipe back to 2012 post on eGullet that cited the back of the Byrrh Quinquina bottle as the source of the recipe. When I checked my recent bottle, the two recipes on the back were not this one; since it reminded me of Misty Kalkofen's Maximilian Affair, I was game to give it a try. The French name certainly matched the three French (or French isle) ingredients in the mix.
Le Negociant gave forth a rose-like scent from the elderflower being modulated by the Byrrh's grape in addition to a grassy note from the rhum. Next, the lemon and grape danced on the sip, and the swallow continued on with grassy, floral, and bitter quinine flavors.

mai tai suissesse

1 oz Absinthe (Kübler)
1 oz Rhum Agricole Blanc (Rhum Clement Premiere Canne)
1 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Orange Liqueur (Cointreau)
1 oz Heavy Cream
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice, strain into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. The contest restricted things to 7 ingredients so I could not garnish with freshly grated nutmeg, but feel free to add it if desired.

A few weeks ago, I submitted a recipe to the USBG Cocktail Classique sponsored by Lucid Absinthe. It ended up making the cut to compete in the New York semi-final round, but it was not a convenient time for me to travel, so I bowed out. My drink idea began with considering how Tiki drinks are very absinthe friendly, and I selected the Mai Tai as a starting place. Instead of swapping pure absinthe in place of one of the rums in a Mai Tai, I opted to swap in the delightful New Orleans treat, the Absinthe Suissesse, in place of that rum. My rational was that both drinks contained orgeat as a common ingredient, and how the creamy, rich, nutty, citrus, and grassy combination in the mashup would complement the herbal spice notes in absinthe.
Once prepared, the Mai Tai Suissesse gave forth an anise aroma from the absinthe that was mitigated by a sweet creaminess on the nose. Next, creamy lime and orange notes on the sip slid into grassy, nutty, and surprisingly lightly absinthe-driven swallow. Overall, the mix was closer to a classic Absinthe Suissesse with some citrus and grassy rum flavors as accent than to an adaptation of a Mai Tai itself.

pine room pippen

1 jigger Scotch (1 1/2 oz Famous Grouse)
1/2 oz Dubonnet (1/2 oz Byrrh Quinquina)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
Juice 1/2 Lemon (1/2 oz)
1/4 tsp Sugar (1/2 oz Simple Syrup)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
For a libation to round out Friday evening two weeks ago, I opened up Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up for a previously glossed over gem. The one that spoke to me that evening was the Pine Room Pippen attributed to the Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The recipe was a Whisky Sour colored by Dubonnet Quinquina and Angostura Bitters, and I was curious as to how Byrrh would fill in for Dubonnet of that era. Once shaken and strained, the Pine Room Pippen gave forth a Scotch bouquet with a brightness from the lemon juice to the nose. Next, the lemon mingled with the grape on the sip, and the swallow showcased the Scotch that was accented by elegant herbal-spice notes.

mofucco

2 oz Bacardi Rum (DonQ Añejo)
1 peel of a Lemon (Full peel of a small Lemon)
1 tsp Sugar (1 Demerara Sugar Cube dissolved in 1/2 oz Water)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 Whole Egg

I muddled the sugar cube with the lemon peel in water and stirred to dissolve. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake once, add ice, and shake again. Strain into a cocktail glass.

My desire for a nightcap two Thursdays ago led me to Trader Vic's 1946 Book of Food & Drink. There, I was lured in by the Mofucco that was "a pleasant variation of a Bacardi Flip from La Florida Bar in Havana," and I was curious to see how the lemon peel in the shake colored the drink. As for the name, perhaps it was a misspelling of a Cuban necessity that sprung up around the time of the book's publishing; my search discovered that "a combination of ethanol and gasoline called mofuco was employed during World War II [in Cuba]" that does not seem to different from today's gasohol.
While I stuck with a Spanish-style rum, my mind drifted to El Dorado 151 and a few others in the collection that would remind me more of a mix of gasoline and ethanol. Instead, I opted for an aged Puerto Rican rum from DonQ for this drink. In the glas, the Mofucco proffered rum, lemon, allspice, and clove notes to the nose. Next, a creamy caramel sip shared a brightness from the lemon peel, and the swallow was all about the rum that was colored by the bitters' dark clove spice.