North by Northwest was a hard one for me that produced a lot of failed attempts, but one that finally stuck was a riff on the Blood and Sand. I substituted Bourbon (what they drug Roger with) for the Scotch (what he drinks by choice) into a cocktail of mistaken identity.

The North By Northwest Cocktail

• 1.0 oz. Bourbon
• 1.0 oz. orange juice
• 0.75 oz. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
• 0.75 oz. Averell Damson Gin liqueur

Shake with ice. Strain into old fashioned glass over rocks. Garnish with an orange twist.

I played with the proportions a bit and substituted Averell, a liqueur of Damson plums, for the Cherry Heering, which always tastes like cough syrup to me. I pulled the bitters out as well as I felt they weren’t needed in the final concoction. Yummy, and nary a cropduster in sight.