rx sour

3/4 oz Glenfiddich Fire & Cane Scotch
1 oz El Dorado 12 Year Rum
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice, strain into an up glass, and garnish with an edible flower, lime twist, and pineapple leaf.

Two Wednesdays ago, we ventured up to the Baldwin Bar in Woburn for I had just learned that Backbar-alum Dan Braganca had returned from his adventures in Baltimore and started working there. For a first drink, I requested the Rx Sour that Dan mentioned was created by Ran Duan; I neglected to ask if the name was somehow inspired by the Prescription Julep (the only similarities are the split base spirits and the sugar though). Once mixed, the Rx Sour shared a smoke, floral, and lime bouquet to the nose. Next, malt and pineapple played on the sip, and the swallow was all about the smoky Scotch with a solid backbone from the Demerara rum. We tried to figure out where the floral notes were stemming from, and we deduced that it was either from the Scotch and pineapple like in the Gory Guerrero or perhaps the Scotch and lime.

st. nicholas manhattan

2 oz St. Nicholas Abbey 12 Year Rum (RL Seale 10 Year)
1 oz Cinzano Sweet Vermouth (Martini Grand Lusso)
2 oz Coconut Water
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Mix, chill in the freezer along with a coupe glass, pour into the coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two Tuesdays ago for the cocktail hour, I reached for the Experimental Cocktail Club book and spotted the St. Nicholas Manhattan. This large format batched cocktail (that I adapted for a single serving above) was crafted by Julien "Papa Jules" Gualdoni at the Cliff Restaurant in Barbados. The drink called for a rum from St. Nicholas Abbey which is one of the last rum producers on Barbados that is tied to a functioning plantation instead of purchasing molasses from elsewhere; the historic space was renovated in 2006 and production began again. Since this pot-stilled rum is not only very expensive but hard to source, I figured that my R.L. Seale 10 Year from the other side of the island would be a good substitute (especially since he made that 12 year rum for them at the Four Square Distillery).
This Rum Manhattan riff greeted the nose with orange and grape aromas. Next, grape mingled with the coconut water notes on the sip, and the swallow proffered rum, coconut water's brininess, and the bitters' clove and allspice flavors.

monkey steals the peach

2 oz Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Crème de Peche (Briottet)
1/4 oz Campari
1/2 bsp Absinthe (Kübler)

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.

While going through the blog posts to add tags for essays and seminars, I spotted the recipe for the Monkey Paw that added banana liqueur to the traditional Monkey Gland. I then thought about the peach liqueur in the Missionary's Downfall that I had tinkered with a few days prior, and my mind jumped to the phrase "monkey steals the peach" which is a caption to a move in Ninja Mind Control. While I have never seen the book itself, the two images and the description for that maneuver which will apparently cause a lethal amount of blood loss have circulated around the internet. Instead of just adding the liqueur in like with the Monkey Paw, I also changed the red element from grenadine to Campari, for Campari and peach pair rather well as I learned in Derek Brown's Bitter Peach and I later utilized in the Campeche aperitif.
The Monkey Steals the Peach attacked with an orange, anise, and pine bouquet. Next, the orange juice controlled the sip, and the swallow tore away with gin, peach, and orange flavors on the swallow with a celery-like finish.

here's how zombie

3/4 oz Heavy Bodied Rum (RL Seale 10 Year)
3/4 oz Dark Puerto Rican Rum (Don Q Añejo)
3/4 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum (Privateer Silver)
3/4 oz Red Rum (Appleton Select)
1/2 oz Apricot Liqueur (Combier)
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
Juice of 1 Lime (1 oz)
1 tsp Brown Sugar

Shake with ice, pour into a Zombie glass (Tiki mug), and top with ice. Float 151 proof rum (1/4 oz Plantation OFTD), and garnish with mint, pineapple (omit), and cherries (omit).

My freshman year of college, I was invited to Halloween party one Saturday night at a nearby fraternity. One of the best drinks of the event was a Zombie that I vividly recall being rather potent with pineapple and apricot being the most noteworthy flavors. By potent, I mean that I had four and then I stopped, but my roommate who arrived on his own had at least double that in less time and was a mess. We tried to get him to walk home with us, but he kept with his troublesome antics and darted. He did make it back to the room and later woke up with a black marker line down his face for his efforts (disclaimer: he was not the nicest of roommates). So with the teenage high jinks aside, my memory of the Zombie from 30 years ago was very specific and nothing like the mysterious spice hints of the 1934 classic Zombie. The Zombie that came closest to it was first published in 1941 in W.C. Whitfield's wood-covered Here's How that I mentioned in the Bath Salts post. While the Don the Beachcomber offering had a limitation of two per customer, this recipe was subtitled "one to a customer" despite being somewhat weaker in strength.
Whitfield's Zombie welcomed the senses with mint, funky overproof rum, and a fruity nose. Next, lime and the rums' caramel on the sip lumbered into rich rums, brown sugar-pineapple, and apricot flavors on the swallow. While made with better ingredients than the party one and not served in a plastic Solo cup, it was definitely less sweet and more citrus defined but rather similar in flavor.

honi makai

1 1/2 oz Aged Rum (Appleton Select)
1/2 oz Overproof Rum (Stolen Jamaican Overproof)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)
1/4 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Herbsaint

Shake with ice and strain into a double old fashioned glass (whip shake, pour into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice). Garnish with a mint sprig, pineapple leaf (omit), and orange wheel.
Two Fridays ago, I returned to Clair McLafferty's The Classic & Craft Cocktail Recipe Book where I spotted the Honi Makai by Hadi Ktiri at Arnaud's French 75 in New Orleans. This tropical drink reminded me of the A Tale of Two Kitties with orange juice, Herbsaint, and a second rum thrown in the mix. Once prepared, the Honi Makai donated a mint, orange, and anise aroma to the nose. Next, lime and orange mingled on the sip, and the swallow proffered funky rum, anise, and allspice flavors. Overall, the Herbsaint's anise was rather strong, but if that is your thing (like it is ours), then you are in luck! After making the drink and posting it on Instagram, Hadi reached out to inquire how I enjoyed the drink. I replied that it definitely worked for us and I inquired as to what rums he had used given the vagueness of the book's recipe; he specified El Dorado 8 Year for the aged rum and Plantation OFTD as the overproof one.

northern lights

2 oz Malört (Jeppson's) (*)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with crushed ice, and garnish with mint sprigs.
(*) Perhaps 1 oz each of Malort and Bourbon would work well here too for a slightly less bitter-herbal balance.

After seeing the recipes for the Port Light and Starboard Light in Trader Vic when I made the Pinky Pincher, I still had the structure in my head two days later. For some reason, I decided that instead of whisk(e)y, what if I were to replace the spirit with Malort? I might have made the connection when I misremembered making a riff of Nick Jarrett's Prizefighter that included Malort and passion fruit; in the end, those were two different drinks: the Cutman and the Cornerman, respectively. For a name, I was considering the Nordic Light akin to the Nordic Toddy, but the Northern Lights seemed rather nautical especially for boats a bit further north.
The Northern Lights welcomed the nose with mint and passion fruit aromas. Next, a creamy lemon and honey sip transitioned into a bitter herbal and passion fruit swallow. Overall, the egg white and honey worked to mollify the Malort's bitterness and the passion fruit seemed to modulate it into something a bit more fruity and pleasant.

rum runner's downfall

1 1/4 oz White Rum (Uruapan Charanda)
3/4 oz 151 Proof Caribbean Rum (Don Q)
2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Banana Liqueur (Giffard Banane du Bresil)
1/2 oz Blackberry Liqueur (Marie Brizard)
1/2 oz Crème de Peche (Briottet)
8-10 leaf Mint
8 oz Crushed Ice

Blend with out ice to pulverize the mint leaves. Blend with ice for 10 seconds on high, pour into a 16 oz glass or Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with mint sprigs.

Two Wednesdays ago, the heat made me crave a blender drink, and my glorious mint patch made me wonder what I could do along the lines of the Missionary's Downfall. I had previously taken that drink in a Hawaiian direction with the Lili'uokalani's Downfall, but the overlapping rum, pineapple, lime, and fruit liqueur elements reminded me of the Rum Runner (not that specifically that recipe which Jeff Berry uncovered, but the one we did at River Bar last summer with equal parts of dark rum, white rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, crème de mûre, and crème de banane). When I merged the two, I left out the former's honey and latter's grenadine, and I was considering leaving out one of the fruit liqueurs. However, when I asked Andrea's opinion, she suggested leaving all three in there (I was considering leaving out the blackberry since I felt that it might dominate the flavor profile).
For a name, I kept things simple with the Rum Runner's Downfall which reminded me of the Franklin Bearse, a rum runner who met his downfall with a shotgun blast to the face. In the mug, the Rum Runner's Downfall donated a minty and berry bouquet to the nose. Next, lime, blackberry, and vegetal notes on the sip gave way to rum and banana flavors on the swallow with a peach and mint finish.

pinky pincher

1 oz Bourbon (2 oz Old Grand Dad Bonded)
1/2 oz Orange Juice (3/4 oz)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice (3/4 oz)
1 dash Orgeat (1/2 oz)
1 dash Simple Syrup (1/4 oz)

Shake with ice and pour into a double old fashioned glass (whip shake, pour into a double old fashioned glass, and fill with crushed ice). Garnish with a thin orange slice and thin lemon slice (omit both) and a mint sprig.

Two Wednesdays ago, I selected Trader Vic's 1972 Bartender's Guide Revised for something a bit tropical. There, I latched on to the Pinky Pincher that was marked as a Trader Vic original, and the recipe reminded me of a Ward Eight with orgeat instead of the grenadine. I could not find a good explanation for the name other than it being in the same alliterative time era of Vic's along with drinks such as the Potted Parrot and Shingle Stain.
The Pinky Pincher offered up a mint aroma over Bourbon notes to the nose. Next, a creamy lemon and orange sip led into Bourbon and nutty orgeat on the swallow with a lemon and vanilla finish.

zombie d'chambon

1 oz Daron Calvados (Boulard VSOP)
1 oz Plantation Rum (Plantation Original Dark)
1/2 oz Citadelle Gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1/2 oz Mathilde Cassis (Massenez)
1/2 oz Mathilde Poire Liqueur
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Orange Juice
4 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with crushed ice, pour into a Tiki mug (Plantation Rum mug), and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with mint sprigs and orange slices (omit orange slices).
Two Tuesdays ago, I fielded a question about Zombie variations on Reddit and had thus taken out David Montgomery's Zombie Horde to find the answer. Since it was already out, I utilized it for the drink of the night which was the Zombie d'Chambon. This Zombie riff was crafted in 2012 by Brian Dressel of Austin's Midnight Cowboy in honor of Hugo Chambon Rothlisberger who was the brand ambassador for Pierre Ferrand back then. I was able to match a good number of the calls for Pierre Ferrand products, but alas, I had to utilize other spirits and liqueurs for this tribute. Once prepared, the Zombie d'Chambon yielded a mint bouquet over a dark berry nose. Next, lime, dark berry, and orange notes on the sip lurched into rum and apple flavors on the swallow with an orange and clove spice finish. Unfortunately, the cassis seemed to overtake most of the other flavors in the mix (I am not sure if Mathilde brand is lighter than Massenez or if this was intended).