Cocktail #28: Captain's Blood

I was going to skip a week given the horrific result of the US election. I'm not sure anyone's in the mood to read about tiki drinks or crazy garnishes. But, perhaps you are in the mood to drink. I'm not going to let that orange piece of garbage disrupt the things that I enjoy doing, so -- onward!

I've been devouring the New York Times over the last few months, including some non-political content. They have a wonderful recipe site and app, and there are a lot of cocktails as well as food on the site. I recently came across this cocktail, the Captain's Blood, in Rosie Schaap's latest column, and while it may not exactly be considered a "tiki drink," its simplicity and riff on the classic daiquiri intrigued me. I didn't have it in me to do a whole big complicated one this week, so this seemed to fit the bill.  Schaap is their occasional drinks writer (and has also written a wonderful book called "Drinking With Men," which I highly recommend). Here's the Captain's Blood:

1 ½ ounce Jamaican dark rum (I ended up using a slightly lighter Barbados rum from Mount Gay; Myers's or another darker Jamaican rum probably would have been a little better)
¼ ounce falernum
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
½ teaspoon superfine sugar (or more to taste; I ended up using 1/4 oz. simple syrup instead)
Lime wheel or wedge for garnish

Not a lot to expound on for this cocktail. It goes down very easily, and I found Schaap's portions just right. As she notes, you can play around with the sugar / citrus portions if you like a drink on the more tart or sweet side, but for me this was just right.

The falernum and the Angostura bitters add nice slightly spicy notes to it to take the edge of the tartness. Bottom line: really nice, simple cocktail that will go down easily.

It's going to be a rough four years ahead of us. In the meantime, let's take a moment to remember at least one good thing that this country was capable of. Perhaps it can be again. Cheers.