Know Thyself

One of the reasons I haven't posted much on this blog in recent months is that I've not been inspired.  The more I drink, the more I realize that there are but a few truly exquisite drinks.  After that, there are thousands that are "really very good," but these never approach the others.  With a few exceptions, the best drinks are the simplest and the oldest.  So I've not been routinely inspired because it's a rare event that one encounters a brilliant new drink. 

However, I was inspired by Jamie Boudreau, who posted on his Old Fashioned, cubed and syruped last October, to fashion a complex drink on a classic framework.  The first iteration was amazing.  I then made the mistake of upgrading the liquors to premium grade (Rittenhouse and Martel VSOP); this mistake drowned out the subtlety of the original, so I dialed it back again...


skinny (slightly less than) 3/4 oz Sazerac 6 year rye
skinny 3/4 oz Cruzan Single Barrel rum
skinny 3/4 oz Paul Masson brandy
1 tsp 2:1 demarara syrup
16 drops Smith-house Berber bitters

Combine and quickly stir with ice, making sure not to dilute the mixture too much. 

This cocktail is worthy of consideration with some of the greats, and could fill in for a Sazerac, Old Fashioned, or Manhattan as your daily tipple (that is, if you make some of my Berber bitters for yourself).