benny & the jets

1 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac
1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Demerara Syrup
3 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Kübler Absinthe (1 bsp Butterfly)

Shake with ice and strain into a Tiki mug. Fill with crushed ice and garnish with a lime, cherry, and a mint sprig.

A few weeks ago, I spotted a recipe on the DrinkLikeAPro section of BostonChefs about a Tiki event held at Empire. The event featured Beachbum Berry talking about the genre and No. 9 Park's Ryan Lotz making said libations at the bar. The article presented one of Lotz's recipes, Benny & the Jets, which had little overlap with Brick & Mortar's Bonatti & the Jets save for the Benedictine.
Benny & the Jets began with a mint bouquet. The sip was rather fruity with lime and grapefruit along with a hint of caramel from the barrel-aged spirits. The swallow then showcased the spirits especially the funkiness of the rum and the smooth richness of the Cognac, and this all ended with a minty, anise, and spice finish.

aviacion

3/4 glass Applejack (2oz Laird's)
1/2 glass Lemon Juice (1/2 oz)
A tsp Grenadine (1/2 oz)
Dashes of Absinthe (1 barspoon Butterfly)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a lemon twist.

A few Wednesdays ago, I turned to The Art of Making a Cocktail & More published in Cuba in 1927 for drink inspiration. There, I spotted the Aviacion which was not a riff in the 1916 Aviation but closer to a Jack Rose with absinthe for complexity. Moreover, it reminded me of Scott Holliday's apple brandy Corpse Reviver #2, the Johnny Jump Up. Therefore, I did not mind making a drink with the same (or in this case similar due to it being in Spanish) as a really well known classic. Interestingly, the history of aviation in Cuba was well timed with American Prohibition for the first Cuban airlines were founded in 1919 flying out of Havana's Columbia Airport that opened that same year.
The Aviacion greeted the nose with lemon and anise notes. The lemon continued on into the sip and mingled with the pomegranate, and the swallow was a mix of apple and crisp berry-like flavors accented by the absinthe on the tail end.

knight fizz

1 1/2 oz Berkshire Mountain's Greylock Gin (*)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb (or other orange liqueur)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 1/2 oz Whole Milk (Heavy Cream preferable)
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice. Strain into a Highball glass with 2 oz soda water. Garnish with an orange twist.
(*) A brandy such as Lustau would have worked well here too.
A few weeks ago, I had a request for a desserty cocktail at work. While I considered doing a Flip, I thought that something refreshing yet sweet like a New Orleans-style Fizz would better hit the spot. For a flavor combination, I crossed David Embury's brandy-based Knight Cocktail with the Ramos Gin Fizz. Perhaps I should have kept the cocktail's brandy since it worked so well in the fizzy Saratoga Brace Up to provide richness, but gin at that moment seemed to go with the flavors better. While David Embury would have hated this drink that was too sugary, too citrussy, and not booze-forward enough all the while ruined by dairy and eggs, my guest certainly enjoyed it.

rené barbier

1 oz Camus VS Cognac
1 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1/2 oz Campari
2 dash Bitter Truth's Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon oil.

Two weeks ago, I attended Gaz Regan's Cocktails in the Country (read my highlights here). One of the scheduled events was dubbed Organized Chaos and involved everyone pairing up to do a shift behind the bar for the other students as well as special guests and attendees. I think that I banged out 5 or 6 different cocktails in my half hour (all were split into taster portions). I recorded four of the recipes including the one that Gaz wrote up on the Jagermeiser Sidecar. I explained that drink on Facebook as, "When I mentioned Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Jäquiri from Portland Cocktail Week 2012 (recipe here) at dinner during Cocktails in the Country and people didn't think a "Yak-uri" or the idea sounded good, I took it as a challenge. That night during my bar shift, I presented the crowd with a Sidecar but I wouldn't tell them the spirit. It became a crowd favorite and Gary Gaz Regan kept talking about it too. The Jagermeiser Sidecar a/k/a the Meistercar (named by Christopher James) was born." Two of the other novel ones were a Ketel One-Sorel Tiki drink and a Sapin for Yellow Chartreuse Puritan-like riff, and I do recall a joking request for a Ramos Gin Fizz at the end that I gladly fulfilled.
The fifth drink I can recall making (there were possibly more) began by me eying the Camus Cognac bottle. The direction I took was inspired by the Lucien Gaudin for I paired Campari with curaçao. In the Negroni-variation vein, I also thought of Phil Ward's 2005 Cocktails in the Country drink, the Cornwall Negroni that had Punt e Mes and bitters in the mix. For a name, I stuck with the Lucien Gaudin concept and dubbed this one after another fencer, René Barbier -- a Frenchman who medalled in the 1928 Olympics. I did not take down tasting notes during the melée, but I do recall Gaz commenting that "this is my sort of drink!"

morning

1/3 jigger Brandy (1 oz Foret VSOP)
1/3 jigger Dry Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat)
2 dash Maraschino Liqueur (1/4 oz Luxardo)
2 dash Curaçao (1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry)
2 dash Absinthe (1 scant bsp Butterfly)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry (omit) and lemon oil.

A few Thursdays ago, I opened up Boothby's 1934 World Drinks And How To Mix Them and spotted the Morning. The combination of brandy, maraschino, curaçao, and bitters reminded me of the Brandy Crusta I make (link goes to one that I made at work and posted via Instagram that explains my preference for both the classic curaçao and the newer school maraschino). With dry vermouth in place of the lemon juice and a hint of absinthe instead of aromatic bitters, the similarities made this one worth a try.
The Morning began with lemon oil aroma with hints of maraschino and anise. The sip was rich but somewhat nondescript save for perhaps a hint of cherry. However, the swallow showcased the brandy that was accented by the orange and nutty maraschino liqueurs and punctuated by an absinthe finish.

averna cup

1 oz Old Monk Rum
1 oz Averna
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Giffard's Strawberry Liqueur (*)

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top with 2-3 oz ginger ale, and garnish with mint sprigs and an orange twist. Add a staw.
(*) In a pinch sub a large strawberry muddled in 1/2 oz simple syrup. Add a fine straining step after the shake/strain.
For a second drink at Sichuan Garden II's Baldwin Room, I asked bartender Vannaluck Hongthong for the Averna Cup that he described as the house's riff on a Pimm's Cup. In the glass, the orange twist's aroma was stronger than the mint garnish's. Next, the sip was rather fruity with lemon and strawberry flavors, and the swallow was richer with dark caramel and molasses notes followed by a fruity spice finish.

absinthe buck

1 oz Absinthe Ordinaire
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orgeat
3 oz House Ginger Beer

Quickly shake to mix. Pour into a Collins glass with ice. Top with 3 dash Angostura Bitters and garnish with mint sprigs and a lime wedge.
A few Wednesdays ago, we paid a visit to the Baldwin Room at Sichuan Garden II in Woburn for dinner. Behind the stick that night were Vannaluck Hongthong and Charles Coykendall, and for a first drink, I asked Van for the Absinthe Buck. The combination of ingredients reminded me of Drink's Dead Man's Mule with different ratios and minus the allspice dram. Once prepared, the Buck proffered mint and other herbal aromas. A lightly carbonated lime sip gave way to an absinthe swallow complemented by ginger and orgeat flavors. Indeed, the medley of other flavors made the absinthe less anise forward than expected.

toronja bronx

1/4 Gin (1 oz Hayman's Royal Dock Navy Strength Gin)
1/4 Sweet Vermouth (1 oz Punt e Mes)
1/4 Dry Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat)
1/4 Grapefruit Juice (1 oz Pink)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a grapefruit twist.

A few Mondays ago, I opened up The Art of Making a Cocktail & More for some 1927 Cuban cocktail intrigue. There, I found the Toronja Bronx which seemed more interesting than a normal Bronx for it substituted grapefruit ("toronja" in Spanish) for the classic's orange juice. When thinking about the recipe, I opted for overproof gin to carry the recipe's lower proof a little further. Moreover, I thought about the Italian Greyhound and a riff, the Americano Squeeze, and how well grapefruit and Punt e Mes paired up in both, and, therefore, substituted it for regular sweet vermouth.
The Toronja Bronx greeted the senses with fresh grapefruit aromas. The grapefruit continued on into the sip where it mingled with the vermouths' grape flavors, and the swallow offered gin notes and Punt e Mes' bitter complexity along with a grapefruit finish.

pleasure island

1 1/2 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum
1/2 oz Mezcal (Montelobos)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Don's Mix #2 (1:1 Allspice Dram and Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds))
1/4 oz Apricot Liqueur (Rothman & Winter)

Shake with ice and strain into a Tiki mug. Top with crushed ice, and garnish with fire (spent lime shell with ~3/8 oz overproof rum, ignited). Garnish with mint and bitters (left out of the original instructions, so omitted here).

After mixing the Homère Punch, I had extra lime juice to use. Therefore, I decided to make a recipe that I had spotted via the OnTheBar app. This was not a Boston recipe, but one from Ryan Lobe at Seattle's Rumba. About a week after I made the drink, CocktailWonk wrote about the recipe and provided some back history and extra details about the drink. This recipe was one of the Seattle entries into the Iron TikiTender competition at TikiKon 2015. The rum that Lobe used was not regular J. Wray, but a house barrel-aged batch to mimic Wray & Nephew 17 Year Old of the original Mai Tai lore. Moreover, the drink name was inspired by the island in Pinocchio "where all the bad boys go to drink and smoke." That recipe also included mint and bitters in addition to the fire garnish.
The Pleasure Island without the mint and bitters garnish smelled of hot rum and lime aromas. The lime continued on into the sip, and the swallow showcased the funky Jamaican rum and vanilla on the swallow, and apricot, allspice, and smoke on the finish.