Powder Monkey

• 1.5 oz. Planteray Guyana rum
• 0.5 oz. Probitas rum
• 0.5 oz . chicory liqueur (Tamworth Blue Lion)
• 0.25 oz. crème de banane (Tempus Fugit)
• 0.25 oz. coffee liqueur (St. George NOLA)

Stir with ice and strain into glass.

I haven’t done a lot with the chicory, so this was a bit of play to see where I could utilize it. The coffee might have come first, as it brings me back to the chicory and coffee of NOLA. I think banana is a nice sweet pairing, and this all together screamed rum, so eventually I landed at this split between the Guyana and Probitas.

I don’t know how many more monkey names I have in me for banana drinks, but I’ll keep them coming. A powder monkey was a young boy hauling gunpowder to cannons on old sea vessels. And I’m sure they drank the rum as heartily as the old sea dogs.

Alchemical Romance

• 1.5 oz. Cognac
• 0.5 oz. rye whiskey
• 0.5 oz. turmeric liqueur (Von Humboldt’s)
• 0.25 oz. ginger liqueur (Giffard)
• 0.25 oz. honey liqueur (Barenjager)
• dash of Crude Attawanhood #37 bitters

Stir with ice and strain into glass.

I was building a drink around Cognac, of which I don’t have many. It might be a crutch I pull from the Vieux Carré, but I do like it better when it’s paired with rye. To this I added my mix of liqueurs. The turmeric brings some bitterness, but I wanted that strengthened with the Crude bitters, which add cherry and clove.

All this together sounded like some medicinal cure all. The name doesn’t really evoke that, but I do like the play on alchemy. And I just liked the name, so there it is. Hope it cures all that ails you.

Banana Is Banana in Brazil

• 2.0 oz. cachaça
• 0.5 oz. crème de banane
• 0.5 oz. apricot liqueur (Rothmam & Winter)
• 0.25 oz. Amer Picon
• 0.25 lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into glass.

I think banana plays really well with cachaça’s grassy notes. Here I added apricot for additional sweet depth, the Amer Picon (don’t use it often, so wanted to play) for bitter, and the traditional cachaça pairing of lime for a nice rounded drink.

Looking to at least once stay away from a monkey pun, I looked up banana in Portuguese. It’s… banana. Thus the name. But universally I hope this drink is delicious.

On the Eve of Chaos

• 1.5 oz. Rhum Clément Agricole Blanc
• 0.5 oz. Planteray Cut & Dry coconut rum
• 0.5 oz. Guyabana
• 0.5 oz. Brovo Uncharted Rhapsody
• 0.5 oz. lemon juice
• 0.25 oz. lime juice
• 0.25 Velvet Falernum
• dash of Angostura bitters
• dash of Dale DeGroff Pimento bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass. If you like, pour it over ice.

I made this drink over 18 months ago, and I can’t recall the catalyst. Maybe the coconut Planteray. Maybe the Guyabana (tropical fruit, I’ve written about it previously). In the end though I made a tasty tropical drink and needed a name.

So. This was right before either the new year of 2025, or right before the inauguration of Trump in 2025. The name is in by no means prophetic. We all knew what was coming. And we got it.

Filagree

• 2.0 oz. blanco tequila
• 0.75 oz. Yellow Chartreuse
• 0.5 oz. Cocchi Americano
• dash of Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into glass.

Here is my tequila variation of the gin cocktail Bijou. Tequila for the gin, Yellow for Green (I always liked this better with tequila), Cocchi for standard sweet vermouth, and then mole for orange bitters. Ratios stay close, though I upped the Cocchi a little for balance.

The name plays on the jewelry theme of Bijou, but here highlights the metal lace craft that has been adopted in Mexico for things like earrings.

It’s a cocktail of tweaking formulas. But such a tasty formula to play with!

Oh, Barnacles!

• 1.5 oz. Brugal 1888 rum
• 0.75 oz. lemon juice
• 0.5 oz. Chairman’s Reserve Spiced rum
• 0.5 oz. Lost Spirits Navy rum
• 0.5 oz. Falernum
• 0.5 oz. Cynar
• 0.25 oz. Clément Créole Shrubb
• dash of Angostura bitters
• dash of Crude Attawanhood #37 bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass over crushed ice. Grate fresh cinnamon as garnish.

Tasty little tiki number, with not much more than playing with rum, acid and sweeteners, with bitter for balance.

The name was a swear on SpongeBob, which we heard our daughter speak at one point, and was too cute by half. The other was, “Tartar Sauce!” but I can’t imagine a drink built around that.

Promises You Don’t Intend to Keep

• 1.5 oz. blanco tequila (Fortaleza)
• 0.75 oz. sweet vermouth
• 0.5 oz. Brovo Uncharted Rhapsody liqueur
• 0.25 oz. South Hollow Spirits Amaro Cioccolate
• barspoon Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
• dash of Miracle Mile Chocolate Chile bitters

Stir with ice and strain into glass. Garnish with empty promises.

The Brovo liqueur is a Green Chartreuse replacement I quite like, so I was playing with that, in a bit of a Bijou variant. Obviously tequila was swapped in for the gin, and I did close to a 3:2:1 with the sweet vermouth and the Brovo. I did lessen the vermouth as I introduced the chocolate amaro, chocolate I find pairing nicely with the herbal liqueurs. The maraschino just brightens things, and the additional bitters add some spicy kick.

The name is a quote from Beauty and the Beast, improvised by David Ogen Stiers as Cogsworth on what Beast could give Belle as a romantic gesture: “flowers, chocolates, promises you don’t intend to keep.” With the bitterness against the sweetness, both from the chocolate, I thought it an appropriate name. Garnish with an edible flower for completeness.

How To Cut a Mango

• 1.0 oz. Funk rum
• 1.0 oz. Appleton 12 year rum
• 0.75 oz. crème de cacao (Tempus Fugit)
• 0.5 oz. mango liqueur (Chinola)
• 0.5 oz. lemon juice
• dash of Angostura bitters
• dash of Mister Bitter’s Cacao & Macadamia bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass. Garnish with a mango segment.

I built this around the mango liqueur. Rum, cacao, lemon — nothing surprising here. Maybe the chocolate, but I thought it added the right depth.

Mangos are a tough one to cut and present. That darn nut/seed. I actually watched some tutorials. Thus the name. And a fine cut, I must say.

‘Shroom Where It Happens

• 2.0 oz. Amass Mushroom Reserve gin
• 0.5 oz. Gran Classico
• 0.25 oz. Benedictine
• 0.25 oz. crème de cassis
• dash of chaga extract

Stir with ice and strain to glass. I think this would pair nicely with a little chocolate.

I have had Amass’s regular dry gin on my shelf for a while, and enjoy it’s subtle mushroom inclusion (reishi and lion’s mane, according to their website). This reserve gin adds an additional infusion of shiitake, along with cacao and bergamot. It’s tasty.

I bumped up the herbs and bitterness using Gran Classico and Benedictine to work with the umami of the gin. It needed some brightness and a little more sweet, so I grabbed cassis. I finished up with a bit more mushroom, because why not?

Another punny title, this time with apologies to Hamilton. A Shroom with a View, Shroommates, Shroom & Board, Shroomraider. It was never going to end well.

Hull Breach

• 2.0 oz. bourbon rested in rum barrels
• 0.75 oz. Cynar
• 0.25 oz. sweet vermouth
• 6 drops lactart

Stir with ice, smoke mixer or glass with hickory chips, strain into glass.

I got a new smoke kit earlier this year and was playing around with different smoked drinks. This was a Manhattan variation where the Cynar helped to balance the sweeter bourbon/rum base. You could play with different spirits, as there are a number of bourbons rested in rum barrels. The lactart here was to brighten the final drink without moving towards a sour.

The smoke and the rum inclusion pushed me to think of a cannon shot, thus the name of Hull Breach. I wish I had captured the smoke in the image. Consider this pre-battle.