A drink a dad could get behind

Ah, Father's Day.  A day of brunch, relaxation and celebration of half our parentage.  And the father of your kids if you happen to have kids.  A masculine drink is called for, but I do like to mix it up and go for offbeat riffs on the classics.  So, the Rumblefashioned was born.  I may not be the first to make it, but I would love to take credit for the name!  It sounds like an old timey gang fight, and what could be more masculine than that?!?!?

Credit Balcones Rumble, a curious distilled liquid from the folks at Balcones Distillery in Waco TX who also bring you in very limited amounts, a single malt to beat the peat of the commonwealth.  The Rumble is a truly Texas creation, with turbinado, honey and fig in the mix.

I played along with the darker sugar tastes, and muddled some turbinado, Angostura Bitters, and orange slice, then added 2 oz of Balcones Rumble and garnished with a Luxardo Marasca Cherry.  Heaven.

Enjoy!

Old fashioned fun

Well, it's been awhile.  Basically I've spent the last several months perfecting the Negroni and ignoring the remaining contents of my liquor cabinet.  We go through Campari here like it is, well, if I say water that makes us sound like we have a problem, now doesn't it?
Anyways, my loyalty to the Negroni intact, but turning my attention towards bourbon season (Kentucky Derby and all), I have become once again enchanted with the old fashioned.  A simple cocktail, yet so easy to get wrong, and somewhat difficult to get right, at least in my experience.  A good old fashioned is sublime, with the bourbon shining but the other aspects mellowing the burn. The use of granulated sugar or sugar cube can enhance the mouthfeel when sipped through a straw, though syrup can enhance the sweetness that tempers the bourbon fire.
Here are two riffs on the old fashioned I've fashioned in the past few days.

Chocolate old fashioned:

1 tsp or less of turbinado (demarera) sugar
3-5 dashes of peychauds bitters
3-5 dashes of Aztec chocolate bitters
1.5 oz Prichards double chocolate bourbon

Chill an old fashioned glass, discard ice
Muddle the sugar and bitters
Place fresh ice in the glass (I prefer a large single ice cube)
Pour bourbon over and stir
Garnish with a luxardo maraschino cherry, flame an orange peel over


Chocolate Coffee Old Fashioned

As above but substitute coffee syrup for the turbinado