For Negroni Week 2017 at Loyal Nine, I pondered gin drinks that I could do a mashup and my mind wandered over to the late 1960s Tiki wonder, the Saturn. I got excited since the combination of gin, Campari, passion fruit syrup, and lemon in the mix reminded me of Jamie Boudreau's Novara; moreover, the addition of sweet vermouth, orgeat, and falernum only seemed to add to the picture. I was so pleased with the combination that I later served it at Loyal Nine to Matt of CocktailWonk who was visiting and several other guests that weekend.

I was inspired by the previous night's Ai Ono, and I looked to the Gilda and the Ferrari (Fernet-Campari shot or drink motif) to mashup into a riff. I named the combination the Black Hand Society after the crime syndicate that took the place of the mafia in New Orleans circa 1900 that I learned about in Herbert Asbury's The French Quarter book. They were known for blackmail and sending death threats that were embellished with images of black hands and crimson skulls and crossbones — perfect symbolism for the Fernet and Campari components that worked great with the pineapple, lime, and cinnamon structure. The black and red motifs reminded me of the Fernet-Campari-containing Trash Polka that I named after a German style of tattooing that combines images done in either black or red ink. I surmised that I had a winner for Fernet, pineapple, cinnamon, and lime have worked well in the gin-based Awkwardly Tongue Tied. See source reference for links to the drinks mentioned above.

A classic line from, "Magnificent Seven" (1960)

Watching the 1950 Joel McCrea classic, "Saddle Tramp."