great minds

2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Luxardo Bitter Bianco
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Giffard Crème de Banane (Tempus Fugit)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with ice cubes (large cube), and garnish with a spritz of Nux Alpina (drops of Russo Nocino). Two Thursdays prior, I looked over the recipes that I had saved from online recipe flashcards from The Violet Hour in Chicago, and I selected the Great Minds from their Fall 2021 menu. I was able to find a Yelp drink photo from November 2021 to confirm the date and serve. The rye, orgeat, and banana combination was one that I enjoyed in a citrus-driven one, the Bright Side, but here it was with a substantial amount of Bitter Bianco and no juice. With the walnut liqueur garnish to complement the orgeat, the Great Minds began with a nutty bouquet. Next, a creamy sip developed into rye, bitter herbal, almond, banana, and allspice flavors on the swallow.

lips of an angel

1 1/4 oz Angel's Envy Bourbon
3/4 oz Bacardi 8 Year Rum
3/4 oz Dolin Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Giffard Passion Fruit Liqueur
1/8 oz Honey Syrup (2:1)
1 - 1 1/2 dash Angostura Bitters (3 decanter dashes)
3 drop Saline

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with orange oil from a twist. I had traded bar shifts two Wednesdays ago and had the day free, so I stopped into Backbar for a drink. There, I asked bartender Liz Pittari for the Lips of an Angel off of the Mix Tape Volume 3 menu. This tribute created by bartender Jesse Lane to the 2005 Hinder song was subtitled "You'll wanna kiss this Vieux Carré" (well, there was a word heavily crossed out before the word kiss, but I will stick with kiss). Here, the Lips of an Angel was perfumed with an orange and tropical perfume. Next, grape and honey notes on the sip pouted for Bourbon, rum, and candied passion fruit flavors on the swallow.

what about bob

1 oz Planteray OFTD Overproof Rum
1 oz Havana Club 3 Year White Rum (Tommy Bahama White Sand)
1 oz Sacred Bond Brandy (Courvoisier VS Cognac)
1 oz Gin (Treehouse Hildegard von Bigen)
2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Whip shake with crushed ice, strain into a Bob mug (Tiki mug), and garnish with a flower (mint sprigs). Two Tuesdays ago, I decided to make a drink posted by El Nova via the Vatos Who Tiki Instagram account that was a riff on the Fog Cutter called What About Bob. Its orgeat-cinnamon modifiers reminded me of Ben Sandrof's Cuban Anole Mai Tai variation given the orgeat-cinnamon modifiers; however, this Fog Cutter riff did not have the stereotypical float such as the classic sherry one or the aquavit one in the case of the Viking Fog Cutter. While I neither have seen the 1991 movie by that name nor have a Bob Tiki mug, I selected a mug that was closest which was a vintage Moai mug I found from the Honolulu restaurants in Westborough and Norwood, Massachusetts (both of which opened in the mid 1970s and closed in 2007 or before). Once prepared, the What About Bob gave forth a mint aroma from my choice of garnish. Next, a creamy orange and lemon sip opened up into funky rum, brandy roundness, cinnamon, pine, and almond flavors on the swallow.

between the sheets (dale degroff)

1 1/2 oz Brandy (Courvoisier VS Cognac)
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass with an optional sugar rim, and garnish with a flamed orange peel (unflamed). Two Mondays ago, I listened to Dale DeGroff's episode on on Tristan Stephenson's The Curious Bartender podcast. There, Dale described when he was putting together a program for Joe Baum, he found a Between the Sheets recipe in the 1951 Bottoms Up book from the Detroit Wonder Bar that called for Benedictine instead of rum (a rich equal three parter that recipe lacked lemon juice). Dale felt that the rum in the classic Between the Sheets confused things, so he mashed up both recipes for his menu to make it more of a Sidecar riff. That night, I sourced the recipe from his 2002 The Craft of the Cocktail book. The combination was very similar to the mid-century They Shall Inherit the Earth from the Esquire's The Art of Mixing Drinks as well as the apple brandy Honeymoon Cocktail, but I still felt that it was still important to try Dale's take on it. Once shaken and strained, Dale's version blossomed wihth orange and Cognac aromas. Next, lemon and orange notes on the sip akin to a Sidecar led into brandy, herbal, and orange flavors on the swallow.

black dog serenade

1 1/4 oz Brandy (Marie Duffau Napoleon Armagnac)
3/4 oz Suze Gentian Liqueur
3/4 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1/4 oz Benedictine
1 dash Chocolate Bitters (Angostura Cocoa)
1 dash Orange Bitters (Scrappy's)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass pre-rinsed with Laphroaig Scotch, and garnish with a lemon twist. Another one of the cocktails that I had spotted in the online recipe flashcards for Valkyrie in Tulsa was the Black Dog Serenade that was most likely named after an episode of Cowboy Bebop. On paper, it reminded me of something between a classic Vieux Carré and the (apple) brandy-gentian-Benedictine Tin Can Telephone. Once stirred and strained, the Black Dog Serenade conjured up lemon and peat smoke aromas. Next, a hint of caramel on the sip expanded into brandy, rye, gentian, herbal, and chocolate flavors on the swallow.

mild sedative

1 1/2 oz Pusser's Rum (3/4 oz Hamilton's 86° Demerara + 3/4 oz Monymusk Gold)
1 1/2 oz House Coco Cordial (1 oz Coco Lopez)
1 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Giffard Crème de Peche (Mathilde)
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Flash blend with crushed ice (whip shake), pour into a footed Fizz glass (Tiki mug), and top with crushed ice. Garnish with mint, orange twist, flower, and paper parasol with a cherry. Two Saturdays ago, I searched my list of cocktails to make for another use of my Coco Lopez stash, and I honed in on the Mild Sedative – a Painkiller riff at Raised by Wolves in San Diego that I found via online recipe flashcards. The menu description from 2021 read as follows, "We're walking the path paved by the classic Painkiller. Layers upon layers to be found in this tropical sipper that toes the line between decadence and crisp citrus refreshment." With peach, passion fruit, and lime added to the classic that I had experienced once before in the Nautilus (albeit with other fruit flavors in the mix), I was curious to taste Raised by Wolves' version. Fully garnished, it gave forth an orange and mint aroma. Next, a creamy orange and lime sip was smoothed off with rum, coconut, peach, and passion fruit flavors on the swallow.

little black dress

1 1/2 oz Cihuatan Jade White Rum (Privateer Tres Aromatique)
3/4 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (El Maestro Sierra)
1/2 oz Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur
1/4 oz Lucano Caffe (Borghetti Espresso Liqueur)
1/8 oz Amaro Sfumato
1 peel Orange

Shake with ice, strain into a footed Collins glass, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with an orange twist. Two Fridays ago, I was perusing sets of online recipe flashcards from The Violet Hour in Chicago, and the Little Black Dress from their Spring 2022 menu called out to me. Their Instagram had a photo post of the drink during that menu's time frame with the description, "We all know the classic Espresso Martini, but have you met the Little Black Dress? ⁠Rum pairs famously with its counterpart's coffee flavors layered in with Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur and Lucano Caffe⁠. The addition of PX sherry adds a unique nutty complexity for a flirty Violet Hour spin on everyone's favorite after dinner pick-me-up." Since coffee liqueur and Sfumato have been paired in drinks like the Oakland and Dark Matter, I was curious to see what it would be like when the coffee balance was greater than the amaro amount here. In the glass, the Little Black Dress twirled around with orange, roast, and raisin aromas. Next, roast and dark, rich grape notes on the sip welcomed rum, coffee, bitter espresso, raisin, and herbal flavors on the swallow.

death by distance

2 oz Half Moon Gin (1 3/4 oz Farmer's Gin + 1/4 oz Morin Calvados Selection) (*)
3/4 oz Averna
1/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 dash Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a cherry.
(*) Half Moon is a gin made with a 80-20 wheat-apple base, so I supplemented the gin with Calvados like I did with the Muff Pistol. Two Thursdays ago, I returned to online recipe flashcards for the Valkyrie in Tulsa and selected the Death by Distance. The Tulsa Voice in 2014 attributed the creation to bartender Josh Coffee, and its Averna-cinnamon combination lured me in for how well it has worked in other drinks such as the Earl Grey Angel. In the glass, the Death by Distance donated a caramel, cinnamon, and rum funk bouquet to the nose. Next, Averna's caramel continued on into the sip where it was followed by juniper, apple, herbal, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow with a rum funk finish.

brimstone colada

1 oz Planteray OFTD Overproof Rum
3/4 oz Amaro Sfumato
1/2 oz Laphroaig 10 Year Scotch
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 oz Cream of Coconut (Coco Lopez)
1 oz Pineapple Juice
2 dash Angostura Bitters
2 dash Absinthe (12 drop St. George)

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with freshly grated cinnamon and nutmeg. Two Wednesdays ago, I was still thinking of the Highland Diver and A Scotsman in Paradise as Scotch Piña Colada riffs. From there, the OFTD-Laphroaig duo from the Doomscroller came to mind. The Scotch-Sfumato combination that I utilized in the Caustic Negroni led me to the Sfumato-cinnamon pairing that I learned about in the Armstrong and utilized in the Hell Haggerty. With the burly overproof rum, peaty Scotch, and smoky roast amaro in place, I dubbed this one the Brimstone Colada. Once prepared, the Brimstone Colada donated a woody and cinnamon spice aroma to the nose. Next, a creamy roast and pineapple sip opened up into rum, caramel, coconut, smoke, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow.