Tuesday night creation

Last weekend I put in a little time trying out a new Swedish Punsch recipe - this one courtesy of the Underhill Lounge. It's a delicious "alt" version of the last Punsch I made, which featured a more varied spice palette, more sugar, and left out the rum. The Underhill Lounge version has a bit more burn, and its flavor is *way* more punchy - thanks, I think, to the fact that I varied the "official" recipe a bit and used Myer's dark rum and Lapsang tea. It takes a bit of arithmetic to get the recipe down to the point where it's suitable for household production and consumption; the original version looks to be set up for a bar full of people named Jorgensen with serious hankerings for double Diki-Dikis. But with the help of a calculator (copywriter here, okay? Spare me your chuckles), the Underhill recipe renders a Punsch that's way bolder and spicier, if less silky, than the previous Deep Ellum version I tried.

Even dropping the recipe by two thirds, though, I still wound up with about a fifth of the stuff. And when you're talking about just one guy's habit, a fifth of any liqueur is several months' worth of drinking with even a modicum of variety. Sadly, I don't yet have The Dude's dedication to a signature drink; and if my personal brand every incorporates a trademark cocktail, I hope for my own dignity and my friends' sanity that it doesn't involve an obscure Swedish liqueur. Alcoholic trademarking aside, however, Punsch also comes with another significant shortcoming: a relatively short shelf life. Sadly, homemade Punsch goes bad in a few weeks - and by "bad", I mean you wake up one morning and realize that something in your fridge got to your leftovers before you did. Thanks to all the organics added to the homebrew variety, it doesn't benefit from the pure bouquet of chemical compounds that give most cordials the staying power of a German roach in a fallout shelter.

So, not being one to willingly waste good alcoholic capital, I've launched an exploratory commission in search of new sources of cocktail ROI. Having covered the obligatory Doctor Cocktails and Diki-Dikis, I got a little creative this evening and stumbled on something quite obliging:

2 oz white rum (I used Appleton.)
1 oz Punsch
Juice of a 1 lime (3/4 oz or so. Unless you buy your limes at Shaw's, in which case just buy a dozen and hope for the best.)
1 tbsp of falernum

Shake, pour straight up, and garnish with a lime twist or wheel. 

Granted, this is essentially a variation of the Doctor Cocktail - but you'll be surprised by how much a difference dry white rum and falernum make. The falernum, not surprisingly, comes courtesy of the Boston Shaker (I used Trader Tiki's, which was their recommendation.) All in a all, it's a hearty but refreshing drink, if I dare say so. Weirdly, perhaps, it actually reminded me a little of the few bowls of aromatic pipe tobacco I've put back in my time.

In keeping with the studious, inquisitive, but vivacious attitude that vice reminds me of, I think I'll call it "the Cambridge". Once I get tired of this one, it's off to go leer not-too-subtly over the bar at Rendezvous to see if I can steal their recipe for the Rabbit Stick.