North Shore Pirate

I've got a notable one-off for you tonight. While stopping for beer at my favorite local bottle shop, I came across a bottle of Vikre Distillery's Voyageur Aquavit, a product that I'd heard about but never tried. It's a cognac-finished variant of their standard aquavit, which I tried at Vikre's tasting room a little over one year ago and enjoyed greatly. I knew I had to try this finished variant.

Turns out, the finish just rounds the edges off the base product and blunts the overly herbal notes, which makes this a good choice both for sipping and for mixing. I'll try a stirred cocktail later, but a sour seemed like a pretty easy way to start.

On its own, the aquavit was tasty but a little thin; this drink really came together when I combined it with a robust rum and a couple dashes of bitters.

1 1/2 oz Voyageur Aquavit (another aquavit would be a credible substitution)
1/2 oz Scarlet Ibis rum (yum; again, another assertive amber rum would work)
3/4 oz Velvet Falernum
3/4 oz lime juice
2 dashes cinnamon-orange bitters (a dash each of orange and Angostura would do)

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish? Huh?

I didn't take a picture of this one because (obviously) I couldn't be bothered with garnish, and thus it wasn't especially pretty. Perhaps I'll add one in next time I make this, because there will be a next time.

Tasting #3: Holiday Party Redux

Just about two years to the day after my first tasting menu presentation, I was invited back (in a fit of poor judgment, no doubt) to handle drinks for another holiday party!  This was a great experience for me, in that it allowed me to think back on what worked well vs. not so well at the previous event, while reworking the format for a slightly bigger crowd.

Five drinks wound up being a little impractical the last time around, so we shortened to three rounds (I cheated by doing two variations on the same formula for round 2, as you'll see below).  To start things off, we added a relatively gentle communal punch, which gave everyone a chance to settle in and grab something to eat while getting into the spirit of the event.  The other major difference this year, although it doesn't show in the menu below, is that I recruited volunteers from the crowd to help out with measuring, stirring, and shaking.  I've done this with friends at home, and it's a great way to keep everyone engaged while also demonstrating one of the points I try to get across the most fervently: that with a little instruction, anybody can put together a good drink.

(There were a lot of pictures taken as well - I'll try to hunt down some copies and post them up here.)

PRIMER: ROSY CHEEKS PUNCH
1 oz (8 oz) gin (Tanqueray)
½ oz (4 oz) overproof white rum (Wray & Nephew)
½ oz (4 oz) cinnamon syrup*
½ oz (4 oz) Campari (or similar)
½ oz (4 oz) lime juice
3 oz (1 standard 750ml bottle) sparkling wine
4 oz (1 standard 1 liter bottle) soda water
To build: Combine in a large glass, or punch bowl over a large block of ice. Garnish with cranberries, orange slices, rosemary sprigs – whatever you want! (All of the above at the event, which was maybe a bit much, but which got compliments on its appearance!)
Other notes: You can make this as an individual drink, or as a communal punch for 6-8 people (using the amounts in parenthesis).

DRINK #1: OLD-FASHIONED, RUMMY STYLE
2½ oz aged rum (Plantation 5 Year)
¼ oz cinnamon syrup*
¼ oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
3 dashes Angostura bitters
To build: Stir over ice and strain into a chilled glass, or just stir over a large ice cube; garnish with a small strip of lemon peel squeezed over the glass.
Other notes: Don’t skimp on the rum here; you want a smooth operator for this one.

DRINK #2 (A/B): SILVER & GOLD HOLIDAY FIZZES
Silver:
1½ oz gin (Tanqueray)
1 oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
1 oz lemon juice
½ egg white
Gold:
1½ oz gin (Tanqueray)
1 oz apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
1 oz lemon juice
½ egg yolk
To build: Shake once without ice and once with ice, then strain into a highball glass and top with 3-4 oz of soda water to taste.
Other notes: Two different variants on the same basic formula; you can omit the egg for a plain fizz if you’re squeamish, but this way nothing goes to waste.

DRINK #3: FRANKENSTEIN’S ZOMBIE
1½ oz aged rum (Plantation 5 Year)
1 oz overproof white rum (Wray & Nephew)
½ oz apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter)
½ oz falernum (John D. Taylor)
¼ oz cinnamon syrup*
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
To build: Shake vigorously and pour unstrained into a highball glass; garnish with flaming rum in a lime shell only if it’s your first drink of the night. (I was asked why I made this point at the event, and it bears repeating: alcohol is flammable, and you don't want to set your bar/home/self on fire.)
Other notes: This is a cobbled-together version of several different Zombies that can be found in the wild; the original goes back to 1934.

*For Cinnamon Syrup: Combine 1 cup each of white sugar and water in a saucepan and add 4 whole cinnamon sticks. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves, and let stand for at least 1 hour or overnight. Strain, bottle, and keep in an airtight refrigerated container.

I'm sure they'll never read it here, but I'd like to extend my thanks once again to our hosts, both for the aforementioned hosting duties and for inviting me back.  Events like this are always a blast, and it was fun to get participants a little more hands-on this time around!

Sour Grapes

It's been a while since I've written up an actual drink! Feels a little... nostalgic. Lately I've been making relatively simple cocktails, and it's not too often that one jumps out and grabs my attention. This is a very welcome exception, so much so that I had to get it down.

1 1/2 oz G'Vine Nouaison gin (we'll do a writeup on this soon too)
3/4 oz red wine
3/4 oz tamarind syrup (I'd have loved to use a sour grape syrup, but this is close enough)
3/4 oz lime juice

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

Yum. A really nice, simple take on a gin sour that also tastes shockingly of grape.

Hemingway Variations

I make no secret of my love for the Hemingway Daquiri, a variation on a classic that has become a well-known recipe all its own. Though everybody agrees that the drink was named after Ernest Hemingway, and that it was born at the El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba, the history is otherwise a bit muddled. What seems clear is that Hemingway's original drink was made with double the alcohol and far less sugar than a typical Daquiri, nowhere close to the version with grapefruit and maraschino that we've got today. I prefer using the name Papa Doble for the original drink, which was also typically blended or served over shaved ice, where today you often see Hemingway Daquiris served up in a cocktail glass. Where all those differences emerged is a real mystery, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

After doing some research I was also surprised that my personal version seems to feature a lot more sugar than most published recipes, many of which feature at most 1/2 oz of maraschino for sweetness. Fortunately, when I cracked open Speakeasy, the proportions were a lot closer to those I provide here. Personally, I like nodding to Hemingway with a strong cocktail, but prefer a somewhat sweeter drink.

The other fun thing you can easily do with this recipe is swap out simple syrup (which actually doesn't appear in many recipes) for a flavored syrup. While dicking around a couple weeks ago, I also tried swapping out the normal white rum for other spirits, resulting in the concoctions below.

#1
2 oz aged rum (Scarlet Ibis for me; you want something moderately aged and funky)
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
1/2 oz spiced syrup
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
3/4 oz lime juice

#2
2 oz blanco tequila (El Mayor)
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo, obviously)
1/2 oz grenadine
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
3/4 oz lime juice

#3
2 oz pisco (Macchu)
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur (I said Luxardo)
1/2 oz thyme syrup
1/2 oz grapefruit juice
3/4 oz lime juice

For all of the above, shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish if you wish, or do what I did (a move pilfered from the excellent Marvel Bar) and lower in a single cube from the shaker with a barspoon, to keep the drink cool without diluting it much further.

Freethinker Punch

As is becoming our yearly tradition, we hosted the 4th of July again this year, an event that plays well to my main culinary strengths: pork and booze. Per my standard party trick, the latter was a non-alcoholic punch base flanked by spirits and wine, a configuration I can't recommend highly enough. Not suggested with fireworks, though; we loaded up on lawn games instead.

I got a bit of feedback that this wasn't my best punch to date, which is fair. I wasn't too much bothered, since this capably performed its dual mission of fueling the party and soaking up a ton of random shit that had accumulated in my fridge, which is a thing that happens. Sigh - such trials and tribulations!

This is about a quarter-serving of the amount for the party, so based on the amount we had left, I'd say enough for 6-8 people or so?

4 oz lemon oleo-saccharum (we've made this before, but it deserves a rundown... just not now)
4 oz mango shrub (a cup each of diced mango, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and water, allowed to steep together in the fridge for 2-3 weeks)
4 oz lime water (a bunch of spent lime shells, infused in water for about 2 weeks)
4 oz lime juice (not the juice of said limes, because 2-week-old lime juice is nasty)
8 oz cantaloupe juice (spiked with about 1/2 teaspoon citric acid for balance)
8 oz green tea
12 oz ginger beer (Reed's)
16 oz soda water

Combine in a punch bowl over copious ice. Serve with your favorite white spirits and wine.

Pink Ribbon Punch

Barbecues are among my favorite events to throw. This is thanks primarily to two easy, delicious things: grilled meat, and punch. I like to think that our summer gatherings are becoming known for both.

This particular version was inspired directly by cheap, tasty-looking watermelon, so I garnished it with some frozen into large ice blocks, with watermelon frozen in the middle, you guys! This is something I've always wanted to try but never had the foresight to manage; my wife, however, dubbed it "very Martha Stewart," which I'm pretty sure was derogatory. Whatever! It looked nice.

The following makes about half of the gargantuan amount seen to the left, which still didn't quite make it to the end of the party. I admit that I may have dumped a bit of it on the table trying to pour the dregs out of the punch bowl.

1 L watermelon juice (well-strained)
750 mL prosecco (something cheap and dry)
500 mL white rum (Bacardi)
500 mL soda water
4 oz lime juice
4 oz lime-coriander cordial
4 oz cranberry grenadine
4 oz Cocchi Americano

Combine in a punch bowl and float some large ice cubes to keep things cool (it helps if everything's well-chilled beforehand).

That's a pretty damn weird mix of metric and imperial units, I know, but it's how I measured, and it turned out really nicely, so I'm recording it verbatim.

Hanging Garden

I love mint in cocktails, but it's an annoyingly short-lived ingredient. A properly stored syrup will keep for months; you can keep citrus in a bowl for at least a week; mint, once it's picked, will only make it a couple days before it starts to wilt. It's sad - but even sadder, that's one of the exact reasons that we're planning on hanging planters on our front porch. Fresh mint on demand!

1 oz vodka (Moskovskaya)

3/4 oz Fidelitas Obstler

3/4 oz gin syrup

3/4 oz lime juice

12 mint leaves

Shake the liquid ingredients first, then add the mint leaves and shake briefly and brutally; you want to break up the mint a bit without bruising it too much. Strain (but don't double-strain; you want those lovely green specks) into a cocktail glass and gaze at the frothy goodness that requires no additional garnish or fine, float a fucking mint leaf on top, then, if you've got extra.

Coriander Gimlet

A very straightforward drink here, but a good one! Among the first cocktails I was introduced to when I turned of age was the gimlet, and I grew to dislike it pretty quickly. I blame Rose's lime "juice" (nope) for turning me away, though shitty rail vodka probably contributed too. But that's unfair to the poor gimlet, which is a classic in its own right, and which can be much improved with a little care.

A homemade replacement for Rose's crud is really the core here, but I'm intentionally leaving off the recipe for now. I've got a roundup planned for some of the syrups and mixers that we saw pop up over Mocktail Month, and this will be included there, since I actually created it in April but never used it in a mocktail worth recording.

2 oz gin (whatever you like; I believe I was finishing off a bottle of New Amsterdam)
1 oz lime-coriander syrup
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish? No, you fool. Drink it and garnish with a refill.

Pithy Reply

I've been trying a technique lately in an effort to recycle, wherein after juicing a bunch of citrus, I'll take the spent shells and pour some inexpensive spirit over them in a Mason jar. I'll let this stand for a while, infuse a bit, then strain off to produce a slightly bitter cordial. It's a simple, cheap way to wring a little more flavor out of what would otherwise be waste.

The result is also an easy way to put a twist on an otherwise basic cocktail. Like this one, which became a straightforward response to an unspecified request for "just a drink" (in which case you're getting whatever I have to use up). It was named (terribly) for its various citrus content, combined with a self-referential pun. Fucking meta, man.

2 oz grapefruit-infused white rum
3/4 oz lemon/orange syrup
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake and strain over a fresh large ice cube. Hurl disdainfully at the freeloader who begged it from you. (Or, like, drink it.)

Broken Spring

A spring drink! Made on an unexpectedly nice spring afternoon! I'm being appropriately seasonal, for once.

2 oz cucumber vodka (homemade)
3/4 oz gin & tonic syrup
4 lime wedges
1 dash maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

Squeeze the lime wedges into a shaker tin and drop in (which should produce about 3/4 oz of juice, but you want the oils from the peel as well). Shake like mad and double-strain over fresh ice in an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a large mint leaf (or a smallish bunch) slapped to express the oils.

Hey, I said it was appropriately seasonal, not that it was easy. I'll break another one of my habits by calling the garnish non-optional on this one; it really does transform and lighten the drink.

Mocktail Month: Berry Patch

Now, sodas aren't always that exciting, but sometimes you nail it. Enough said.

3/4 oz strawberry-lemon syrup
3/4 oz blackberry shrub
3/4 oz lime juice
3 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters

Shake briefly to combine and pour into a Collins glass; top off with about 6-8 oz soda water to taste.

I'll let this stand as one of the better examples of the prototypical soda. Really, there's no need to post more, so we'll attempt to be a little more inventive with this final leg of the month.

Desert Gourd

This one just kind of emerged out of an extra egg white, extra tequila (the best kind), and a random syrup hanging about in the fridge. Turned out pretty dang well.

2 oz reposado tequila

3/4 oz brown sugar-butternut squash syrup

1/4 oz orange curacao

1 oz lime juice

1/2 egg white (good luck dividing that; you'll just have to make two)

Combine and shake without ice, then add ice and shake again. Strain into a rocks glass over a couple of extra cubes. Do not even consider garnishing, unless it's with a little bit of grated nutmeg and lime peel. Which it should be.

Frankly, I would have loved to try this with mezcal and a couple dashes of chocolate bitters... but you do what you can with what you have.

Randicot Punch

Here's just a random punch recipe; it was good at the time, so I'm recording it verbatim.  Upon further review in the cold light of morning (okay, fine: noon) it could do with a bit of tweaking, but that'll have to wait for later.  I'm out of scotch, or at least blended stuff worth infusing.  No way in hell I'm putting apricots in my Glenrothes.

8 oz apricot-infused blended scotch (Famous Grouse, I believe)
4 oz lime juice
3 oz citrus peel syrup
3 oz gin & tonic syrup
16 oz sparkling water

Combine in a pitcher over large but plentiful ice cubes.  Serve in small glasses.

So, the proportions aren't quite there.  I was totally misremembering David Wondrich's recommended balance of sour, sweet, and strong; first thing I'd do next time would be reduce the sugar.  Maybe simplify down to a combined syrup, but I'd also want to do the peel syrup as an oleo-saccharum if working in bulk, and I'm not sure how to integrate the juniper and tonic.  Or perhaps a little black tea, to emphasize the smokiness of the scotch and soak up some sweetness.  And, the apricot-infused scotch could easily be split into regular old blended stuff and some Rothman & Winter apricot liqueur (yum).  I dunno.  We'll get it there.

The name was just from me doodling around with this "random apricot-flavored" punch.  I like the abbreviated combination.  Sounds like an old Maryland vacation spot, someplace where rich fucks keep "cabins" the size of French chateaus.  Right?  That could just be me.  (Not the chateau, obviously, but the mental image.)

Corey Taylor

I followed Dave Arnold's advice for coriander syrup, which proves to be an interesting replacement for ginger syrup. It's a neat substitution in one of my favorite highballs.

2 oz blended scotch (Famous Grouse this time)
1 oz coriander syrup*
3/4 oz lime juice
3-4 oz soda water (to taste)

Build over ice in a tall glass. Large ice cubes are recommended.

*This is a simplified version of a recipe from Liquid Intelligence, but it's still a bit more involved than my typical syrup method, so I figure I should explain. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups water, 1/2 cup of coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, and 1-2 whole dried arbol chilies in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the whole thing up to a simmer until the sugar dissolves and then blend to break up the solids. You can do this in an actual blender (and I would have with a larger batch) or very carefully apply a hand blender. Remove from the heat and let the whole thing infuse until you're happy with the flavor, at which point run it through a strainer and a coffee filter while it's still warm.

I was terrified that this name would turn out to be a character from 90210 or something, but he's actually a heavy metal guy. Much more appropriate!

Last Rays

This is the drink that started our evening.  Yes, it's another riff on the Last Word, but I don't care. I was very pleased with how this turned out.

1 oz reposado tequila (Espolon, as seen)
3/4 oz Casoni 1814 (Aperol would do too)
1/2 oz Licor 43
3/4 oz lime juice

Shake and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a thin lime wheel if you must.

The name emerged from the colors of a sunset, because look how pretty. Pictures, man.

Ice Blue

Winter is normally a time for brown spirits, rich spices, and warm drinks. But sometimes I paradoxically find that I need a tall, cool, refreshing beverage right when it's coldest. It's like I have to fool my body into thinking that it's high summer based on my cocktail choice, nevermind the thick sweater and blankets everywhere.

Then again, maybe I'm weird (hah - maybe?!?) or perhaps I just wanted an excuse to test-drive this blueberry syrup. In any case, we'll revisit this one in six months or so.

1 1/2 oz gin (Tanqueray, naturally)
1/2 oz blueberry syrup*
1/2 oz cryo-cucumber juice
1/2 oz lime juice (lemon would easily do)

Combine over ice in a tall glass; top with 3-4 oz soda water to taste. Garnish with a couple of fresh blueberries, as though you can get fresh god-damned blueberries in the middle of fucking winter; maybe in a few months' time. Keep drinking until then.

* You could juice your own blueberries, although it'd be a mess; instead we found a pure blueberry juice (from concentrate, but at least it's all blueberry) on sale down at our local "hippie grocery place", as my sister dubbed it recently after a couple cocktails. I added 12 ounces of this stuff to a saucepan, added 8 ounces of natural sugar, brought the whole thing to a simmer, and reduced it back down to 12 ounces. I then added 1/2 teaspoon citric acid and about ten drops of rose water, just to get some of that perfume-y essence back. You can probably tell by the fact I'm recording it that the result was pretty fucking tasty. I expect to use it in more appropriate winter cocktails very soon.

Another Word

The parade of remixes continues with a take on the Last Word, one of my favorite advanced sours. Thanks to... Detroit, I guess?

Quite honestly I didn't think this one would work out as well as it did. The wife has been observing an odd cocktail genius that comes over me after I've had a couple. Unfortunately for that same reason, I didn't take a picture, which is a shame because it was quite pretty too.

3/4 to 1 oz reposado tequila
3/4 oz green Chartreuse (yum)
3/4 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot (also yum)
3/4 oz lime juice

Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a thin lime wheel, though it's perfectly fine without.

Update 1/27/15: I knew I'd assembled this drink before... exactly why I keep a log! Still no picture (went down too quickly) but I did make one minor tweak to amp up the tequila presence this time around. A full ounce worked better with the smooth and excellent Espolon Reposado. If you want to use a blanco instead, or a reposado with a bit less age on it, 3/4 oz would be better to keep those grassy notes in balance.

Halloween House Party

I'm not sure how you all spent your Halloween, but I got to spend mine in just about the best way I can imagine - tending bar at a house party for my buddy Vern.  It was a blast!  This was a bit different from some of the tasting events that I've done in the past, in that there were no "courses", just a set menu of a couple simple drinks that I served up on request.  In other words, pretty straightforward bartending, but I got to have some fun with the menu.

I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but the party was themed after "Nostalgia" and I decided to try for a menu that reminded me of the bars I frequented when I first turned of age.  It's all relatively simple stuff, easy to batch and serve quickly.  Yet I was pleased by the response I received; one of the best comments I got was that the overall set of drinks were all excellent and nicely varied.  Exactly what I was aiming for!

Because I batched most of these drinks for quick service, I'm going to provide a couple different versions: the full measurements that I was using to batch, and scaled-down individual versions, in case you want to try them before committing to a larger quantity.

DRINK #1: COSMOTINI
The big hit of the night.  I wound up nearly running out of base ingredients for the juice mix!  No surprise; this is really just a classic Cosmopolitan, served with the option of gin (which is now my preferred method).  Service seemed to split the vodka and gin pretty evenly.

Batched:
10 oz cranberry juice
6 oz triple sec
4 oz lime juice
10 dashes Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters
To serve: combine 2 oz of gin (the citrus-forward New Amsterdam) or citrus vodka with 2 1/2 oz of the mix above; shake vigorously, strain into a glass, and garnish with cranberries and a lemon wedge (for vodka) or a lime wedge (for gin).

Individual:
1 1/4 oz cranberry juice
3/4 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lime juice
1 (large) dash Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters
2 oz gin (or citrus vodka)
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass; add garnish as described above.

DRINK #2: WISCONSIN OLD-FASHIONED
Less of my typical very remixable old-fashioned, more the Wisconsin style that I was first introduced to: the kind with a muddled cherry, orange, and splash of soda.  Simplified here for speed, but very successfully.  This is what I was sipping on all night, in between a couple other random combinations.

Batched:
12 oz brandy (can't remember exactly what we had; my recommendation would be Torres)
4 oz bourbon (Cabin Still)
2 oz Cherry Heering
2 oz soda water
25 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters
To serve: pour 2 1/2 oz over ice, add a small orange slice, and stir to combine.

Individual:
1 1/2 oz brandy
1/2 oz bourbon
1/4 oz Cherry Heering
1/4 oz soda water
Stir over ice; garnish as described above.

DRINK #3: WHATEVER & COKE
This was my attempt to accommodate the house-party vibe, letting guests choose a spirit for combination with a mixer.  It also provided a booze-free option for those unfortunate folks who couldn't consume alcohol.  For the cola portion, I'll point you to a previous post; in this batch, I ran short on brown sugar and added in a sizeable portion of molasses, a substitution that I may have to repeat.  The end result was reportedly "amazing" and went down very well indeed.

Homemade Cola:
4 oz TC Cola syrup
12 oz soda water
1 dash lemon juice
Combine and bottle for service; this will foam up when mixed, so do this in an oversize vessel.

To serve: Combine 1 1/2 oz spirit of choice over ice, with 4-5 oz of homemade cola to taste; garnish at whim with lime (for rum), lemon (for vodka), or orange (for whiskey).

Alternatively: Pour 6 oz over ice and garnish with cranberries.  For a low-proof option, add 1/2 oz Cherry Heering and a couple dashes of Regan's Orange Bitters for a "Cherry Coke".

Cold Smoke Punch

I feel like I've been neglecting you guys lately.  Not my normal sort of mixological rut lately - just a lot of classics, unintentional self-cribbing, and unsuccessful experimentation.  Happens to the best of us, I guess.

At any rate, here's something finally worth sharing: a fairly old-school style punch that still appears to be somewhat original, at least based on a quick perusal of David Wondrich's indispensable reference.

1 1/2 oz scotch whiskey (again, I'll call it what I damn well want)
1 1/2 oz brewed black tea (pretty standard English Breakfast, cooled to room temperature, on its way to becoming iced tea)
3/4 oz peach-brown sugar syrup
3/4 oz lime juice

Combine over a large ice cube and stir vigorously.  Grate some nutmeg on top in classic punch style, if you insist.

I originally reached for bourbon when putting this one together, because it seemed like a natural fit for the peach syrup, but I happened on a new bottle of Macallan 10 instead.  This turned out to be a happy accident.  You could probably use just about whatever blended scotch you like.

Tall and Cool

I'm back!  Yes, friends - it's the first cocktail I've felt worth recording in the last couple weeks.  It's a pretty dang good one, though.

2 oz white rhum agricole (J.M.)
2 1/2 oz watermelon juice
1/2 oz watermelon-strawberry syrup
1 oz lime juice
3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Shake and strain over large cubes in a Collins glass.  Top with ~2 oz soda water and stir.

One of my favorite things about this drink is how well the anisette component of the bitters mixes with the freshness of the watermelon and the funk of the rhum.  It's a damn fine highball, I must say.