Colonial Ties
Recipe:
- 30ml aged Jamaican rum
- 30ml rye whiskey
- 7.5ml rich demerara syrup
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- absinthe (for rinsing/aromatizing)
Aromatize/rinse your prechilled rocks glass/Cognac snifter with the absinthe. Stir everything else on ice until sufficiently chilled (at least 30 rotations) strain into your prechilled glass. Optional garnish: lemon zest (I prefer it without one)
One of my favorites of last year, with the makings of a modern classic. Somewhere between Sazerac and OF, because like the Sazerac it has no ice in the original, as well as absinthe, but no Peychaud's Bitters, which some would call the minimum for recognition as a Sazerac twist.
A wonderful aromatic journey, dried fruit, baking spices, dried guava and papaya, tobacco sweet and dry, a touch of anise, toffee and much more.
Besides, it is one of the drinks that has great potential as a scaffa drink, meaning a cocktail at room temperature. So the faster temperature increase without ice does not affect the quality here. As is often the case with such drinks and drinks in an OF glass without ice, I prefer to use a snifter, whether a Cognac one or other types of tasting glasses, to the aroma can evolve more intensely. Exceptions would be the classics with historical glass templates in the recipe, like the metioned Sazerac.
The only thing you have to keep in mind is that combination of rum and rye, not everything fits together blindly. The two modern classics from the Death & Co, which I had to think of here, the Conference and Oaxaca Old Fashioned, have it easier. The former has with 4 spirits more potential to smooth out individual problems, the latter with tequila and mezcal on the one hand got less difference in the two spirits and also within each of the two spirits less of a range as far as the flavor spectrum is concerned. I would, especially if you want to take your time drinking or start directly as a scaffa drink (which I like to do here), discourage the use of too crazy, overproof stuff. The rum at 46-55%, the rye at 50% works mostly great. Also the rye should go less into the vinegar/acidic notes and offer more nuts, sweetness and christmas spices, the classic Rittenhouse always worked great.
Source: Diffordsguide, originally by Eric Alperin, The Varnish, Los Angeles, 2014
