A rum Negroni, otherwise called a Man About Town. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.
I pay for a service called SaneBox to deal with email overload, so much of it mass PR mail. Somehow a diligent soul, Sally Alfis of M Booth, who represents the company's spirit clients, got though the barricades. Having seen my Friday cocktail hour posts, she asked if she could send me some premium hooch. I never turn down free premium hooch. Thus, the most excellent rum in the photo (it's very good).
Surprisingly, though, she continues to read Friday posts and, following my hasty Negroni post (no link, Donna unhappy with photo), sent me a new cocktail made by Scott Fitzgerald (no, relation, though he does beat on, like all the rest of us boats) of the Mulberry Project in NYC.
What got me about Fitzgerald's lovely cocktail was its variation on a personal fave, the Negroni (thus Sally's clever suggestion—she gets Scott to create a rum drink featuring her client's rum, then gets me to post on the drink; it's all an incestuous little mingle, isn't it?). But I loved the cocktail. First, I'm a sucker for variations on a theme (I wrote The Making of a Chef obsessively replaying these, specifically the 1955 recording, though I love the slow open of the 1981 version), and this, like the Boulevardier, is a Negroni variant. But! Not a simple swap-out of spirit for spirit like the Boulevardier (whiskey for gin), but rather a more thoughtful riff, this including three bitter elements, all of which I'm fond of.
By chance, @wisekaren alerted me this morning, that just yesterday seriouseats did a feature and slide-show on negroni variants in the city, which is excellent; though the beet negroni seems a tad ridiculous, I would rather have that than the Red Rooster variation, which is a Boulvardier (noted by seriouseats in the caption), not a Bourbon Negroni as they call it (I'll lay odds they make an awesome vodka martini as well).
Without further adieu, with thanks to Madam Sally and Scott Fitzgerald, this week's cocktail is the finely balanced Man About Town.
Cheers, and have a restorative weekend!
Man About Town
- 1.5 ounces good white rum (OK, Sally, Brugal 1888; I wouldn't, and didn't, turn it down.)
- 1 ounce sweet vermouth
- 0.75 ounce Campari
- several dashes orange bitters
- several dashes Angostura bitters
- orange peel for garnish
- Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass. Strain and serve in a frosty coupe.
- Garnish with an orange twist.
If you liked this post, take a look at these links:
- A few of my other rum-based cocktails: Key Lime Daiquiri, Between the Sheets, and the Dark and Stormy.
- Try making your own rum at home.
- Portside Distillery here in Cleveland makes various types of rums; and Cleveland Whiskey makes bourbon; small spirit companies are booming throughout the country.
- Vermouth 101 is a site that educates us about this aperitif wine.
© 2013 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2013 Donna Turner Ruhlman. All rights reserved.
Try the Tall Tail:
1.5 oz fermented cat piss
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari
Dash of bitters.
Orange twist
Come on, it's got to be gin. I had the reposodo version, good, but gin is a must.
I'm having popped pot corn with truffle salt & cheap cognac, with a few shots of fancy stuff, just to check the taste.
Cheap is just fine. I can transition to a sidecar, or a small sampler.
A hasty pot of popped pot corn. No research, just put it in the pot, but perfection was had.
Thank God for Fridays!
Cheers, happy Friday all.
Not enough attention paid to good rum. I may try a variant of this. seems to have a trace of manhattan in it, too.
Oh, Allen seems a little bitter (as does his variation)
alan is unhinged. not a judgement.
If unhinged is completely shit faced drunk, then hell yes! I work graveyard and am usually pretty trashed by the time you post the drink of the week.
The nonsense blather is a result of many cocktails, If any of it is offensive, feel free to delete it. I would if I could, most of the drunken rants I post, I'd gladly erase after reading them.
I've never seen fermented cat piss, don't think you can get any, and if you can I don't want to know about it.
The Tall Tail cocktail was a joke, lighten up, or is it getting to stuffy for me here?
Are you seriously stressed out and need a daily drink? It seems like there are a lot of drinking recipes these days and very few posts about food....
So now that we know you don't read any of our emails....it begs the question.....
i read every email but cant answer all
The drink posts are only every Friday. Once or twice not.
The pour in the photo, the way the drink ripple is caught in time, is making me pretty damn thirsty...
Currently it appears like Drupal is the preferred blogging platform out there right now.
(from what I've read) Is that what you are using on your blog?