Father's Advice

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In honor of the bottle of Punt e Mes I opened to make a batch of Manhattans for barrel-aging (more about that at some later time), I decided to mix up a Father's Advice, a cocktail I'd seen on the Cocktail Virgin blog. I'm on a mission to make sure I properly dispose of the Punt e Mes before it expires in a couple of months and this drink was one that used it and that I hadn't tried before.

Really quite complex and lovely. The Punt e Mes and Cardamaro come through on the sip, with the rum and a hint of banana really shining on the swallow. The sweetness of the sherry helps ties the whole thing together. It's a nice, bitter and light cocktail that's perfect for this San Francisco summer weather we're having right now.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz Amber Rum (Bacardi Gold)
  • 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
  • 1/2 oz. Cardamaro
  • 1/2 oz. Amontillado Sherry (feel free to try other types of dry sherry if you don't have Amontillado on hand)
  • 1/4 oz. Gillard Banane du Brésil

Directions

  1. Combine everything in a mixing glass, add ice, and stir to chill.
  2. Strain into a cocktail coupe 
  3. Garnish with an orange twist and cherry on a toothpick 

Banana Boulevardier

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It'd been a while since I had made something without citrus in it, so I turned to my bar book to find something interesting that didn't use any citrus (or other fruit.) I settled on the Banana Boulevardier, because it looked like a lovely variation on the Boulevardier and it gave me an excuse to crack open the bottle of Banane de Brèsil I picked up yesterday when Brad and I went to Cask. 

I put my own twist on it by swapping the Campari for Gran Classico Bitter and the result was a nice success. Good bitter taste on the sip, followed by the bourbon, with a real nice banana finish. Very nice balance and I'll be revisiting this one soon. It reminds me of my Tiki Thursday party without being an actual Tiki drink. It's a nice change of pace; I've been on a real Tiki tear recently.

I think using the Gran Classico Bitter in place of Campari is generally a good move. While it doesn't bring that same vivid red color, it also doesn't bring any red food coloring with it. And the flavor is more complex than the Campari while being as nicely bitter.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. Bourbon
  • 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
  • 1/2 oz Gran Classico Bitter (or Campari)
  • 1/2 oz Giffard Banane de Brèsil

Directions

  1. Combine ingredients in a mixing glass.
  2. Add ice and stir to chill
  3. Strain into a cocktail coupe
  4. Express an orange peel over it and use the peel as a garnish.
  5. Enjoy!

My source for this one (as for many of my drinks) is the excellent Cocktail Virgin blog.