the preston-baker

1 1/2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Rhum Agricole (Clement Premiere Canne)
3/4 oz Blanc Vermouth (Dolin) (*)
1/4 oz Crème de Banane (Giffard)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.
(*) Drink was initially made with dry vermouth (Noilly Prat), but in remaking it, blanc vermouth seemed to round out the edges better.

Two Mondays ago, I thought about my tropical Martini riff, the Diamond Queen, and how a split base of white spirits, vermouth, and a touch of fruity element worked so well. Moreover, I thought about the banana-tinged riff on the Manhattan, the Zemurray that I recently had, and I wondered if I could do a similar Martini with a hint of banana. Keeping the gin, dry vermouth, and orange bitters of the classic Martini, I substituted some of the gin with rhum agricole, and I added in a dash of crème de banana. While I liked the end result, it was a bit rough from the rhum agricole and I remade it later with better effect using blanc vermouth.
For a name, I made this drink a tribute to Boston fruit seller Andrew Preston & Wellfleet ship captain Lorenzo Baker who teamed up in the 1870s to start importing bananas to Boston. This ventured soon morphed into the Boston Fruit Company that later merged with Zemurray's and other tropical fruit importing ventures to form the United Fruit Company that was later became Chiquita. In the glass, the Preston-Baker cocktail gave forth a lemon oil aroma with tropicals fruit in a grassy pineapple way. Next, a white wine sip led into juniper, grassy, and subtle banana flavors on the swallow.

chinese cocktail

2 dash Angostura Bitters
4 dash Crème de Noyaux (1/4 oz Tempus Fugit)
4 dash Curaçao (1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand)
1 spoon Sugar (omit)
Curlier Cognac (1 oz Courvoisier VS)
Rum (1 oz Rhum Barbancourt 8 Year)

Stir with ice, strain, and garnish with a lemon twist.

After the Moreaa Fizz, I decided to make the Chinese Cocktail in Louis Fouquet's 1896 Bariana which I was recently reminded of in my reading. The book pointed out that the better known Chinese Cocktail was published by Franck Newman in his 1904 American-Bar book, and Newman's recipe was adopted by Robert Vermeire and Harry McElhone; I made the latter drink as it appeared in the 1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book. Whereas the better known Chinese Cocktail has rum, Maraschino, curaçao, grenadine, and Angostura Bitters, this one split the spirit base with Cognac, swapped the Maraschino for the also nutty crème de noyaux, and opted for sugar instead of grenadine, but overall, the general feel of the two is similar.
In the glass, the Chinese Cocktail came across almost tea like with fruit and tannin notes, so opting for a Chinese tea cup was surprising apt. On the nose, the lemon twist's oils joined Cognac and nutty noyaux aromas. Next, a dry cherry-like sip gave way to rum, brandy, and nutty apricot flavors on the swallow with a bitter clove and allspice finish.

moreaa fizz

2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Passoa (Ezekiel's Passion Fruit Liqueur)
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Half & Half (1 oz)
1 Egg White
1 dash Orange Blossom Water

Shake once without ice and once with ice, strain into a Highball glass with 2-3 oz soda water, and garnish with an edible orchid and pineapple leaves (omit).
While looking for the evening's drink two Sundays ago, my perusing of the BarNotes app uncovered an entry by Chad Austin of Bootlegger Tiki's take on a Ramos Gin Fizz. The Fizz was named the Moreaa Fizz after the Mo'orea Island in French Polynesia just northwest of Tahiti. Once prepared, the Moreaa Fizz gave forth a tropical-floral aroma from the passion fruit liqueur combining with the orange blossom water on the nose. Next, a creamy, carbonated citrus sip led into gin and tart passion fruit flavors on the swallow.

worthy adversary

1/4 oz Grenadine
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz Elijah Craig Bourbon (Fighting Cock 103)
3/4 oz La Favorite Rhum Agricole (Clement Premiere Canne)
3 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Shake with ice, strain into a Pilsner glass (Tiki mug), fill with crushed ice, and garnish with an orange slice, mint sprig (omit), and curry powder (Madras curry).

Two Saturdays ago, there was a thread on the BG Reynold's Facebook group with someone inquiring about split spirits Bourbon and rum Tiki drinks. While I chimed in with my Fiji Mermaid, Arthur Boothe chimed in with his Worthy Adversary that he crafted at Bitters & Brass in Sanford, Florida. I met Arthur on an USBG-sponsored trip to the Patron distillery in 2016, and I was curious to taste what his drink making palate was like. Therefore, I replied on my walk home from work that I might make it that night.
Surprisingly, the orange slice and curry aroma overtook that of the grassy rhum funk that was rather evident while straining the drink. Next, orange, lemon, and berry notes filled the sip, and the swallow showcased the grassy rhum funk meeting the whiskey with a berry-orange finish. It was interesting to see that both Arthur's and my drinks utilized lemon over lime juice and opted for grenadine as one of the sweeteners in our rum-Bourbon concoctions. With the Worthy Adversary's orange juice, the combination also reminded me a little of the Boston classic, the Ward Eight.

the gladstone

1 drink Whiskey (2 oz Old Overholt Rye)
1 dash Jamaican Rum (1/4 oz Smith & Cross)
a little Maraschino (1/4 oz Luxardo)
2 dash Gum (1/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Absinthe (1 scant bsp Kübler)
1 dash Russian Kümmel (1 bsp Helbing)
2 dash Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
For a drink two Thursday nights ago, I reached for William Schmidt's 1891 The Flowing Bowl and spotted the Gladstone. The recipe came across like a more complex Improved Whiskey Cocktail with additional flavors from Jamaican rum and kümmel. Once prepared, the Gladstone shared a whiskey, anise, and caraway bouquet to the nose. Next, malt and a light cherry flavor on the sip slid into rye, rum funk, nutty cherry, caraway, and other spice elements on the swallow. I was definitely pleased at how well the kümmel notes merged in with the bitters and absinthe of the Improved Whiskey Cocktail, and a touch of Jamaican rum funk rarely seems to hurt a flavor profile.

public mutiny

1 1/2 oz Don Q Oak Barrel Spiced Rum
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)
1/4 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a star anise pod (omit).

One of the recipes that I had stored up from Tales of the Cocktail's 2017 Daiquiri Month was the Public Mutiny. The drink was crafted by Jason Sorbet of New Orlean's 21st Amendment in the same space previously occupied by the La Louisiane Hotel & Restaurant where my second favorite New Orleans cocktail was created, the Cocktail a la Louisiane. Between Daiquiri Month and actually making the drink, I acquired a bottle of Don Q Spiced Rum as a gift of the distributor when I heard Roberto Serralles of Don Q speak here in Boston, so I had all the ingredients to make this drink as intended.
The Public Mutiny greeted the nose with allspice merging with darker aromas from the rum. Next, lime and caramel filled the sip, and the swallow proffered allspice, banana, vanilla, clove, and cinnamon flavors along with the rum base.

eyes on the table

1 oz El Peloton de La Muerte Mezcal
1 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz St. Germain
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a single old fashioned glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I decided to make a drink that I had been scheming up for two of my long time regulars who have followed me since my Russell House Tavern days to my new gig at River Bar. Since I had been on a Byrrh kick and River Bar has it in their fridge, I figured that I ought to begin to analyze the ingredient like I did for Swedish punsch a year ago. When I recalled how well it paired with mezcal in the Ask the Dust, I remembered that the tip came from Haus Alpenz. Therefore, I messaged my friend Jake Parrott of Haus Alpenz for advice on how to use this quinquina. He recommended a few things including St. Germain. And from the previous night's Italian Job, I nicked the Aperol ingredient along with a chocolate element from my own Ask the Dust by way of bitters. Since Aperol and St. Germain have played well in cocktails like the Dunniette and Part-Time Lover, I scrawled down the above recipe as a first pass.
The combination worked rather well from a straw taste and my guests definitely seemed to approved. For a name, I later dubbed this one Eyes on the Table after a work by Spanish born surrealist artist Remedios Varo. Besides loving her work for quite a while, it was symbolically relevant given the French and Mexican ingredients since Varo fled to France during the Spanish Civil War and then to Mexico during the German Occupation of World War II.

italian job

3/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
3/4 oz Aperol
2 dash Orange Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with the oils from an orange twist and with a dehydrated orange wheel (orange twist and its oils).
Two Mondays ago, I decided to make one of the drinks that was published in Imbibe Magazine in late 2017 that was pushing me further towards buying a bottle of Byrrh. That recipe was the Italian Job crafted by Joseph Akhavan at Mabel in Paris, and it alluringly matched the quinquina with equal parts of funky Jamaican rum, Cocchi Americano, and Aperol. Once prepared, the Italian Job gave forth an orange aroma from the twist and Aperol along with rum funk on the nose. Next, grape and a grapefruit-orange note played well on the sip, and the swallow showcased the funky Smith & Cross colored by orange flavors with a dry, bitter quinine finish.

lift-off!

1 1/2 oz Appleton Estate Extra Rum (Denizen 8 Year)
3/4 oz Lemon Hart 151 Proof Demerara Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/4 oz Falernum (1/2 oz Velvet)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass or Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a spent and scraped half lime shell containing a 151 proof rum-soaked crouton wick (El Dorado 151); ignite the rum.

Two Sundays ago, I opted to make a recipe from Blair Reynolds that I had spotted in a 2010 Fine Cooking Magazine article written by Camper English called the Lift-Off! Blair crafted this drink at Portland's Thatch Tiki Bar before he purchased the spot and converted it into Hale Pele in 2012. Overall, the recipe reminded me of a Jet Pilot with orange juice in place of the grapefruit (besides leaving out the absinthe), so I was curious as to how this substitution would play out. Once prepared, the Lift-Off! gave forth a dark rum and cinnamon aroma. Next, lime and orange notes on the sip were darkened by the rum duo's caramel, and most of the rum flavor came through on the swallow that packed a bit of alcoholic heat to it along with cinnamon and clove spice from the liqueur and syrup. As the ice melted over time, the balance mellowed out into something rather pleasant to drink that showcased the cherry and other notes found in Lemon Hart rather than the burn; however, the flavor profile was a bit murky due to the orange juice dampening down the flavors in the mix (unlike the effect of the grapefruit which allowed the various components to sing out more).