Lord knows there’s no shortage of good drinks you can make with what you find in even the most unimaginatively stocked liquor store. A halfway-decent brand of bourbon and some bitters and next thing you know you’re sipping an Old-Fashioned; there’s nothing wrong with that. No bitters? Cheap rum and good Coke’ll work just about every time, and there’s nowhere you can’t get Coke (except where you can’t—in which case, rum and Pepsi’ll have to do). But here’s one that you won’t be able to make with what they carry at Bob’s Back Porch Bait and Liquors. If you can get the rum (a uniquely fragrant product from Australia, of all places) and the Falernum (a lightly alcoholic, lightly spicy sweetener from Barbados), it’ll cure any ailment that a good, stiff drink can cure.
2 ounces 115-proof Inner Circle rum
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce Velvet Falernum
1/4 ounce Grand Marnier
To finish: 2 drops Angostura bitters
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; tip the Angostura bitters over the top.
