I had been thinking about how well Campari and rabarbaro (such as Zucca and Sfumato) can join forces to make a complex bitter. Since Scotch and rabarbaro pair so well in drinks like the Caustic Negroni, I began to think about classic whisky cocktails and ended up on the port-containing Chancellor from the 1956 Esquire Drink book. With Phil Ward's Baltasar and Blimunda (a Negroni of sorts with port) in mind, I altered the Chancellor to include these two amari. For a name, I kept with the academic theme that runs in Chancellor-like drinks.

A discussion about the importance of Saratoga, NY, to the cocktail scene of the 19th century brought up the infamous "Dude Off" between Evander Berry Wall and Robert "Handsome Bob" Hillard. Hillard lost and Wall walked away with the title of the "King of the Dudes," but I wanted to pay tribute through the lesser known Saratoga (Jerry Thomas' 1862 one that is a Vieux Carre minus Benedictine and Peychaud's was earlier and better known today) -- that one being Harry Johnson's 1882 Brandy Old Fashioned with pineapple syrup and Maraschino as the sweeteners.

Part of my 2015 "Daiquiri-palooza" of weekly daiquiri riffs for an entire year. I stumbled on the Yellow Bird recipe like I suspect most have, trying to figure out what the &%$@ to do with that nearly full bottle of Galliano at the back of the bar. Saw several recipe variations, including those with pineapple juice, creme de banane in place of the curacao, etc. so I incorporated those flavors into a single drink, as well as some ratio tweaks, to make it more daiquiri-esque like the original instead of a beach drink juice bomb.

The recipe started with thinking about Eric Seed (Haus Alpenz)'s declaration that Byrrh and mezcal are a stunning duo. The end result tasted better before dilution and chilling and ended up on the menu as a Scaffa. We used whatever mezcal was our well mezcal then, but I used Chichicapa for the photo to make it into Del Maguey's drink of the month in late 2014. Also, named after a John Fante book.

A drink of the day at Loyal Nine back in 2016 where I was inspired by Martin Cate's Abricot Vieux and John Gertsen's Rhum Agricot that he crafted at Drink. Named after Mount Pelée, the active volcano that occasionally destroys rhum distilleries and towns on Martinique. The drink later made the main menu.

Created to accompany a play about New Zealand author Janet Frame