The Fake Fashioned Cocktail

This kind of happened by accident. I knew where I wanted to go with this recipe, and I went there, but I had no idea the kind of result I would get. By accident, it turned into something that tasted just like a really, really good Old Fashioned, out of ingredients many people would never put together. I loathe-slash-despise the idea of crafting a drink based on the ‘basic forms’ of cocktaildom, which basically means I loathe-slash-despise the idea of crafting a drink based on classic cocktails that have already left their mark on humanity. I feel like this shrinks what you can do with alcohol, and mitigates our imaginations. If I’m going to make a drink, I don’t want to be held back by the way people believe it’s ‘a magical, easy trick to making a good cocktail’. Mixology is an art and using a template shrinks what you can do. That being said, somehow this turned into a cocktail that tastes kind of like an Old Fashioned… but better. Well, in my mind it tastes better. It might just be the amount of alcohol. I hope you can set me straight on that one, and, if you can’t, I win!

Ingredients:

1 part Buffalo Trace bourbon

1 part Basil Hayden dark rye

1/2 part Shellback silver rum

1/2 clementine, for juice & garnish

Directions:

Peel about an inch of peel from the clementine. Set aside for garnish.

Add ice halfway up a mixing glass. Add the alcohol. Halve the clementine. Squeeze the juice from half the clementine into the mixing glass. Stir with back of bar spoon until glass becomes ice cold. Strain into a small, stemmed wine goblet. Plop the clementine peel on top.

Serving Suggestions:

Lamb pops, salmon wellington, shrimp scampi.