I had this drink at the bar where it was created and it is superb there and at home.

Made mine with Laird's Bonded and O.F.T.D. This thing is a velvet-covered sledgehammer. I read that the original Vic recipe called for 0.5 oz of overproof rum, not a full ounce. I believe it.

FYI, this one needs curating to change 1 oz Peychaud's to 1 dash.

Done. Thanks for the catch.

It's outstanding with a dash! 5/5.

A little bit of work, but a gorgeous color. I subbed Campari + Soda for the Sanbitter, which is impossible to find where I live. It's got nice balance, and interesting flavors, but there's a serious "Strawberry-Banana Jello" character here, and while the cucumber adds some freshness and complexity, the whallop of Peychaud's leaves sort of a metallic/phenolic bitterness. I think I admire this more than I love it.

I've made this drink both ways, and it's actually a pretty different drink with the sanbitter, which has less bitterness up front and more of a kind of weird bubblegum taste.

However, I agree with your basic assessment - this is a must try drink, but once you've had it I don't know how many times you'll go back to it. There are probably 10-15 drinks in Rogue and/or Beta that I would pick over this one for my go to drink.

Also, while I generally love drinks with a ton of bitters, I'm a bit wary of drinking 2 whole ounces of peychaud's at once, as it kind of seems like the most processed (i.e. least potable) of the major bitters.

I realized that I had all the ingredients, including Sanbitter, to make this. That doesn't happen often! I have to admit that I didn't love it as much as I did before. I found it surprisingly flat. The strawberry takes a little mental control to suppress the mundane connotations. With all the muddling, it didn't have much alcohol. I added an ounce of J Wray & Newphew overproof rum, which helped considerably. A juniper-forward gin might work well, too.

I still stand by my belief that this is a mind-blowing drink -- worth making at least once.

Sweet-tart flavored. We used Luxardo and Bulldog Gin. Stirred, not shaken (sorry, Mr. Bond!). A nice drink with a pretty pinkish-red hue. It definitely looks like the cherry blossoms that will pop out soon here in the Washington, DC, area.

I found my source reference and added it. You can read the comparison between Luxardo and Stock. I've never tried Stock, so I can't comment, but using a bit less of both Lemon and Luxardo might be a good idea. I did raise an eyebrow at a full ounce of Maraschino! I plan to try this myself soon. With that much lemon, I think it might be best shaken.

A nice looking sour with the machino flavour. Used slightly less Luxardo and slightly less lemon juice, but still could have gone less still, or added syrup.

Concur with 2 oz bourbon. Bump up peach to 0.75 oz.

The LUPEC site is no longer. Here is the way Joy had it on the menu for her birthday bash night at the Franklin (2, 1/2, 1/2, 2d):
https://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2010/02/bourbon-belle.html

The site has changed to something else, but the original page can still be found using The Internet Archive Wayback Machine. The earliest image they captured of the page is from Aug. 2011, the URL for the link is: https://web.archive.org/web/20110820090553/http://lupecboston.com/2008/… I suggest replacing the old reference with the above so that it is not lost.

Updated the link, thank you both!