Sunny&Rummy

That sounds like it would be quite good — and something you could actually take the time to do as a traditional swizzle if you top with ginger beer after the swizzle. Also looks like subbing a favorite dark rum in for the tequila would make an equally nice drink.

Great call on the Kingston Negroni whoever posted that one. Put a big dent in my new bottle of Smith & Cross making those the last two evenings.

Martinez was THE epiphany cocktail for me that got me to step out of my rum safe zone and get more broadly into classic/craft cocktails. The Beefeaters is probably a bit to assertive for a perfect Martinez. Try it with an Old Tom and you will find religion. This is also a safe one to serve cold and up and lose the ice. The drink is so good you will be finished with it long before it even has a chance to warm up ;-)

A fresh mint garnish, slapped to release the fragrance, is the crowning touch on a mai tai. Then sip with a short straw so your nose gets right in the middle of all the wonderful rich aromas.

Looking to purchase my first bottle of Creme de Violette. Drillaud or Rothman and Winter? Anyone here familiar with both brands and able to contrast them for me? Thanks.

I think scaling back the dram to 1/4 oz is my plan of attack the next time around as well. The St. Elizabeth is lovely stuff, but a dab will do you for sure.

Lion's Tail. Tasty, but the St. Elisabeth Pimento Dram overpowered the Buffalo Trace I used just a bit. Any suggestions on a good, sturdy bourbon up to the task of balancing out the allspice on this one? Bulleit is my first inclination, or opting for rye over bourbon altogether.

The rye and the St. Germain combo certainly works in something like a Ninth Ward (properly mede with Bulleit which is very rye heavy), so I think tweaking ratios and possibly subbing a drier dry vermouth like Dan suggested will give you a winner.

Agree with Boston on the great value for the price with St. James Royal Ambre. Recently I have been able to get it for around $23. For 'Ti Punch it's hard to beat, but for straight sipping the Extra Old and the Hors D'Age (which I only recently finally tracked down) are less rough-edged as you would expect. I wish Depaz was not as pricey as it is here, because I think it is fantastic. I had the Rhum Clement Cuvee Homere last week for the first time and it's one of the best rums I have ever tasted. And while $90 for the bottle is pricey, it would have been a bargain next to the $30 I spent on a couple measures out at the bar. Delicious.

Mixed up a Bar Eats You this evening. The mezcal and sarasparilla are oddly complimentary, both very earthy but in very different ways. I may need to play around with that particular pairing a little more when I get a chance.

As a person who has a bottle of Del Maguey San Luis Del Rio on hand, and especially as a Lebowski fan I think I am duty-bound to give this one a spin. I even have a Sioux City Sarasparilla at home which the Stranger tells me is a good sarasparilla. Original drink??

I hope there aren't too many pilots drinking straight from the bottle. Now, Pirates, on the other hand. . . :-) Barbancourt 8 is a wonderful sipper, but even though it is a cane juice rum it is not particularly vegetal like most of the agricoles. A fine starting point for the agricoles but not very representative of the typical flavor profile.

My recommendation for Drink Talk Like a Pirate Day is an authentic pirate Bumbo: • 2 tsp. demerera sugar • 1 oz. cool water • 2 oz. good gold rum (Sergeant Classick gold) • grated nutmeg to taste • grated cinnamon to taste Stir the sugar in the water to dissolve, add rum and spices, stir, drink pirate style without ice. The Sergeant Classick is actually unbelievably good in this drink. It's actually the only drink I have found where I'd consider Sergeant Classick as the preferred rum. As a pot still but unaged rum I wonder if it isn't somewhat similar to what 17th century pirate would have had access to.

La Paloma: • pinch salt in bottom of glass • 0.75 oz fresh lime juice • 1.5 oz blanco tequila (Antiguo) • 4 oz Jarritos Toronja Mexican grapefruit soda So tasty and refreshing, and so much better than the boozy Kool-Aid most restaurants pass off as margaritas.

If you are a rum fan, you can get Pussers 95.5 proof in England but you can o ly get the 84 proof in the US. The 95.5 is well worth having around if you can find it.