Hasdrubal's Circuit

For me, mixing a new cocktail is not the hardest part of the creative problem.  Naming a cocktail appropriately is often a tougher task.  For that reason, I've decided to go at it in the opposite direction, i.e., come up with a good name and build a drink around it.  My first sojourn into cocktail creation via this method resulted in the
 

Rondo alla Turca 
 

8 parts Campari

5 parts Kirschwasser

1 part Raki

2 dashes Regans' orange bitters

1 pinch of salt.
 

Stir on ice. Strain. Cocktail glass. Orange twist.

OK, not everyone is going to like it.  But it's firmly built around its name.  Mozart's Rondo alla Turca or Turkish Rondo...now that's a good name for a drink.  Raki for Turkey; Kirschwasser for Austria/Germany; Campari for Italian influences in 18th c. music.

Next, I made the Sherman's March which will be here-documented shortly.

But what really started this off was the desire to create a drink named after my favorite battlefield tactical maneuver in Classical Antiquity, Hasdrubal's Circuit, which he executed at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC during the Second Punic War.  (For an explanation of the maneuver, go here and watch the 2:00:00 to 2:09:00 portion of my lecture.)  A cocktail of this name must have ingredients from western suprasaharan Africa (since Hasdrubal was Carthaginian), Spain (which was occupied by Carthage and was a staging ground for the transalpine invasion of Italy), and Italy (obviously for the Roman Republic).

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I decided to make a Manhattan variation using Spanish brandy, Italian sweet vermouth, and my homemade bitters crafted exclusively from spices and other flavorings native to Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.  Hence:

Hasdrubal's Circuit

2 oz Gran Duque d'Alba brandy

1 oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth

4 dashes homemade Berber bitters
 

Stir on ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with one whole anise star and one marasca cherry.

A few words about the bitters: The flavor combination I used was derived from a basic form of the classic Moroccan spice mixture, ras al hanout.  Here in New Orleans, I couldn't find any of this mixture, so I had to cobble together a semblance of it on my own.  To that end, in separate containers, I steeped allspice, a bitter root combination, cardimom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, paprika, and black peppercorn in grain alcohol for one month and then filtered out the particulate matter.  I combined these nine components (plus Pernod, salt, and honey) in appropriate proportion to create the flavor profile and complexity I desired. 

So Hasdrubal's Circuit is a Spanish brandy Manhattan with a high-end, flavorful vermouth and homemade bitters.  It's deep, subtle, and spicy.