postcard home

1 1/2 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Amaro Sfumato Rabarbaro
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with fresh ice and pre-rimmed with salt, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.
Two Wednesdays ago, we had a rather large dinner at the Smoke Shop's patio in Kendall Square, and Andrea was in the mood for a drink with amaro to settle her stomach. I ended up going with a recipe called the Postcard Home that I had spotted on Kindred Cocktails. Wayne Curtis had written about this drink created by Amanda Schmadel at New Orleans' Barrel Proof in a 2019 article in Garden & Guns magazine. The Postcard Home delivered a grapefruit oil and smoke aroma to the nose. Next, lemon and roast-like notes from the Sfumato on the sip transitioned into smoky agave blending into funky-smoky rhubarb root on the swallow. Indeed, the salted rim worked its wonders by cutting back on the rabarbaro's bitterness to better match the vegetal agave flavor.

rio bravo

2 oz Sagatiba Cachaça (Salinas Umburana)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat (3/4 oz)
3 quarter-sized slice Ginger

Muddle the ginger in the orgeat. Shake all the ingredients with ice, double strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.
Two Tuesdays ago, I picked the PDT Cocktail Book as a source of the night's libation. The recipe that drew me in was Nidal Ramini's Rio Bravo that he created in 2006 at the Dusk Bar in London for the Sagatiba Cachaça competition. Once prepared, the Rio Bravo shared an orange, grassy funk, and nutty aroma that led into a creamy lime sip. Next, the swallow came through with grassy spirit melding into earthy almond and ginger spice flavors with a zingy finish.

right handed planter

2 oz Aged or Dark Jamaican Rum (Plantation Xaymaca)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
3/4 oz Campari
1 1/2 oz Black Tea, a strong steep, cooled (Lychee Black Tea)
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Sugar
3 dash Mole Bitters (Bittermens)

Dissolve the sugar in the lime juice and cooled tea. Shake with ice, strain into a rocks or Collins glass with fresh ice (cracked ice), and garnish with a mint sprig and freshly grated nutmeg.

Two Mondays ago, I was pondering Lemon Hart Rum's Colonel A.R. Woolley's Improved Planter's Punch presented by Jeff Berry in his Potions of the Caribbean book where the traditional drink was augmented by cooled tea as the weak element. My mind drifted to figure out a good riff on that, and I landed on a mashup of the Rum Negroni-like Right Hand as the second recipe point. Merging together the two concepts and including my choice of mint and nutmeg garnishes that I opted for in the Improved Planter's Punch, the Right Handed Planter was born.
The Right Handed Planter reached the nose with a woody spice and mint bouquet. Next, lime and grape mingled on the sip, and the swallow launched into dark rum with a hint of funk, tea, bitter orange, and chocolate flavors on the swallow with a tea tannin-tinged finish.

mexican monk

2 oz Reposado Tequila (Cimarron)
1/2 oz Dry Sherry (Lustau Amontillado)
1/4 oz Coffee Liqueur (Galliano Ristretto)
1/4 oz Benedictine

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Sundays ago, I selected the Mr. Boston 75th Anniversary Edition book and stumbled upon the Mexican Monk created by Eric Alperin of Los Angeles' Varnish. The combination of sherry, coffee liqueur, and Benedictine reminded me of Misty Kalkofen's rye-based The Streets of Gettysburg, and the agave spirit in there reminded me of her Pare de Sufrir and Beneficio de Cafe as well. Two articles in 2011 in the Los Angeles Times and Wine Magazine place its invention sometime between that year and the Varnish bar opening in 2009; both of those articles cite Amontillado as the dry sherry of choice.
The Mexican Monk welcomed the nose with a lemon oil and agave aroma colored by darker elements from the coffee liqueur and sherry. Next, grape and roast notes on the sip led into tequila, nutty sherry, coffee, and herbal flavors on the swallow.

tao of pooh

2 oz Coconut Water
1 1/2 oz 42 Below Honey Vodka (Barr Hill)
1/4 oz Galliano L'Autentico
2 dash Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters (Berg & Hauck)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.
Two Saturdays ago, I returned to the PDT Cocktail Book and spotted the Tao of Pooh that would make good use of the coconut water that I had in the refrigerator. The recipe was created by bartender and bar owner Jim Meehan in 2010 as "a tribute to Winnie the Pooh's love of honey." Lacking 42 Below's product, I instantly recalled the vodka distilled from honey crafted by Caledonia Spirits in my collection. Once prepared, the Tao of Pooh met the nose with a honey, star anise, and vanilla bouquet. Next, a briny sip with some heft to it gave way to honey, anise, vanilla, nutty, and lemon flavors on the swallow.

frozen east side

2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Simple Syrup
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1 handful Mint (12 leaf)
5 slice Cucumber

Blend with 6-8 oz ice (7 oz cracked ice) until smooth, pour into a chilled double old fashioned glass, and garnish with a cucumber slice and mint sprig.

Two Fridays ago, I was in the mood for a refreshing drink, and I recalled Natalie Jacob's Frozen East Side that she had recently posted on Instagram with a note to check her Arsenic & Old Lace blog for the recipe. In my write-up on the regular East Side, I described how the drink was attributed to Lynette Marrero in the mid-00s at the East Side Company which was one of Sasha Petraske's Milk & Honey offshoots. Technically, the East Side is the South Side with cucumber served up, and when it is presented on the rocks, it becomes the Old Maid. Here, Natalie chose not to create a third name for the blended version when she posted about it two years ago.
The Frozen East Side proffered mint and cucumber aromas mostly from the garnish. Next, lime and herbal notes on the sip led into gin and mint flavors on the swallow with a cucumber finish.

fino island

2 oz Fino Sherry (Lustau)
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lime wheel and pineapple frond on an umbrella pick (omit frond).

Two Thursdays ago, I received the list of the winning recipes from the Tio Pepe (Sherry) Cocktail Contest, and I immediately latched on to the Fino Island created by Sam Treadway of Backbar. The combination of pineapple, orgeat, and Chartreuse was one that worked well in the 19th Century Swizzle and the Kumulipo, and I was curious to try it with Fino sherry as the base. Sam described how he reflected on his year in Hawaii after he left Drink before returning to the mainland to open Backbar as his inspiration here.
The Fino Island welcomed the nose with lime and crisp sherry aromas. Next, a creamy pineapple sip gave way to a sherry, nutty, and herbal swallow.

pancho and lefty

2 oz Dickel Whiskey (Old Overholt Rye)
1/2 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/2 oz Maple Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Peach Bitters (Fee's)
3 leaf Sage

Shake with ice, strain into a rocks glass (cocktail coupe), and garnish with a sage leaf.
Two Wednesdays ago, I was rooting through my cocktail book library and rediscovered Daniel Yaffe's 2013 Drink More Whiskey. There, I honed in on the Pancho and Lefty that I must have skipped over due to lacking Tennessee whiskey, but I figured that with my sage plant doing rather well this year, I ought to give it a go with another American whiskey. Once prepared, this tribute to the Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson song crafted by bartender Samir Osman presented a malt, smoke, and sage bouquet to the nose. Next, lemon and maple on the sip transitioned into whiskey, smoke, sage, and peach flavors on the swallow.

sleeping lotus

2 oz Dry Gin (Damrak)
1 oz Orgeat
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)
10 leaf Mint

Shake with ice, strain into a Collins glass, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig and an edible orchid (pea blossoms).
Two Tuesdays ago, I returned to Chloe Frechette's Easy Tiki and spied the Sleeping Lotus created by Sierra Kirk of Hale Pele in Portland, Oregon. The page offered up a great description of, "The Sleeping Lotus drinks like the Army & Navy Cocktail on leave in the Bahamas," although less romantic would be calling it an Army & Navy taken to the South Side. Once prepared, the Sleeping Lotus met the nose with a mint, nutty, and pine bouquet. Next, a creamy lemon sip dozed off into gin, earthy and nutty orgeat, and vibrant mint flavors on the swallow.