Bywater

1 3⁄4 oz Añejo rum, Cruzan Single Barrel
3⁄4 oz Herbal liqueur, Green Chartreuse
1⁄2 oz Averna
1⁄4 oz Falernum, Velvet Falernum
Instructions

Stir and strain

Cocktail summary
Created by
Chris Hannah, Arnaud's French 75 Bar, NOLA
Is an
authentic recipe
Reference

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/bywater-cocktail-cocktails-2009

Curator
Not yet rated
Average
4 stars
(13 ratings)
YieldsDrink
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From other users
  • Made w/ Hamilton 114, Olympia, Amer Boudreau, homemade falernum, & the bitters mentioned in @yarm's comment. Pretty hardcore & quite bitter. Like a darker Kingston Negroni. A kind of drink I wound up enjoying but not sure my friends would.
  • Used Flor de Cana. Added 0.25 oz lime - try 0.5 oz to reduce sweetness.
  • lime maybe try lemon
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Comments

.25 oz lime made this more to my taste. I didn't have the suggested rum, used Rhum Barbancourt 8 yr.

Lime would definitely help; it needs acid and tartness. All I can really taste is the Chartreuse; the Averna is basically buried. I give it 4/5 mainly because I love Chartreuse to death.

Filaw commented on 9/22/2013:

I agree. I tried it as written. Blech. Too harsh. I added the 1/4 oz lime. Mmmmh marvelous. And it was so little citrus it just elevated it while still leaving it to feel like a spirits driven drink.

This works really well with a liqueur made from bay leaves or seeds in place of the Charteuse, if you can find (or make) one.
Green Chartreuse may be too strong - try yellow?

laerm commented on 6/25/2018:

I too did a lime-tartness thing, but I didn't want to add too much to it, so I used lime bitters and acid phosphate. Pretty good.

Several references online quote Chris Hannah as saying his preferred rum for this is Plantation OFTD, which would make for quite a different drink than with the Cruzan. Furthermore, he calls for Amer Picon, but says that Averna makes a good substitute. To confuse it more, some references have the amounts for Chartreuse and Picon/Averna flipped. 

yarm commented on 7/25/2020:

A few of Chris Hannah's recipe have drifted over the years such as the Rebennack. This would not have been invented with OFTD since it had not been invented. This is the one I sourced from Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide and wrote about here: https://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2015/06/bywater-cocktail.html

1 3/4 oz Aged Rum, 3/4 oz Picon, 1/2 oz Green Chartreuse, 1 tsp Falernum, 2 dash Peychaud's Bitters, 2 dash Orange Bitters. Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

For the record, Punch has the ingredients as:

  • 1 3/4 oz aged rum
  • 3/4 oz Averna
  • 1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
  • 1/4 oz Velvet Falernum
  • 2 dashes each Peychaud's and Regans'

Express and discard orange twist; garnish with cherry.