In creating drinks for an article on maple syrup, I wanted to do another Sour of sorts. I ended up naming it Circles and Seasons after the 1979 album by Pete Seeger that contains the song "Maple Syrup Time" which pretty accurately describes the process in folk song stylings down to warnings about not overcooking the syrup and burning it. I utilized the gin-maple aspect from from David Embury's Old Vermont (which was a gin and bitters version of the Applejack Rabbit) and the maple-grapefruit duo from the Don the Beachcomber Tiki classic, the Volcano Bowl. Combined, the complementary flavors sing splendidly together just like the medley in Seeger’s other recording of "Maple Syrup Time" on his album Seeds. I also kept the 3:2:1 formulation of how I mixed up the gin-grapefruit Seventh Heaven at Drink.

My first experiment with Damiana.

This cocktail first appeared in the 1928 work "Recettes de Cocktails pour 1929" by the same authors, but used Campari rather than Secrestat Bitters--making it one of the earlier Negroni recipes (4:4:3 ratios). The change in the subsequent work to Secrestat Bitters (an aperitif probably similar to Bonal) is not explained.

The name likely comes from the addition of the lemon zest to the shaker--specifically stated in both books' recipes.

Cinzano was specified as the vermouth in both recipes.

For my drink of the day at Loyal Nine, I was inspired by the Mr. Howell (white rum, lime, maple, Islay Scotch) to create a smoky Sour. I decided to make it funkier with rhum agricole and mezcal. I kept the Mr. Howell's maple syrup and lime juice components but added in some Angostura Bitters spice to dry out the maple a touch. For a name, I decided on a song title from the Television Personalities from 1987 that was perhaps named after a 1984 British television drama series.