Too late to make the July cut off, but my favorite pineapple juice cocktail is the Jungle Bird.

Tropical and bitter. It’s the only tiki drink my wife likes. The classic recipe wants a little bit of banana liquor, I never have that at home and it’s just fine without it.

Nothing to submit this time. I tried a couple of things with Ancho Reyes, but nothing came together. I’ve had that bottle for almost two years and haven’t ever found any recipe with it that really works.

Had a couple of mocktails at a friend’s place over the holiday. The fake Campari is really good, everything else is pretty meh.

They did make a good NA bicycle thief spritz. With grapefruit seltzer and NA versions of gin and Campari.

That’s a good idea. Or maybe a fresh chili pepper and sub in mole bitters? I wasn’t planning on working any more on this, but maybe I’ll try play around with it this weekend.

This is a tough one. I tried subbing rum into a perfect Manhattan and didn’t care for it. I make a tiki old fashioned that’s been a big hit and it’s not too sweet, but it’s definitely not dry. That’s still the best “dry” rum cocktail in my repertoire, so I stuck with the old fashioned format and worked on a different variation. Here’s a rum/coffee old fashioned.

1.5 oz Plantation 5-year, 0.5 oz Wray and Nephew 151 0.75 oz Perc, 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Serve on ice with a wide orange peel.

Smells of coffee, alcohol, and orange. Tastes of a strong earthy coffee sweetened with molasses. A little bit of banana, and a little bit of warming spice. Not too bitter and not too sweet.

Notes and other thoughts: There’s probably a better rum or rum blend. Also, the 1/2 ounce Wray and Nephew is an estimate. I tried it with just Plantation and thought it needed more punch, so I put in a splash of the 151 and it helped. It’s probably less than that amount. Perc is a regional coffee liquor, I don’t know if it’s available outside of New England. Kahlua would not make an acceptable substitute, but I think Mr. Black would. The orange peel isn’t a great garnish for this. It doesn’t mesh well with the other flavors. Not sure what would be.

I did try a couple of other additions and substitutions. Subbing an allspice dram for the dry curacao was interesting, and adding simple syrup was pretty bad.

Here’s the final: Stirred, served on ice in an old fashioned glass, garnish with an orange peel. 1 oz bourbon, 1 oz Cynar, 1/4 oz dry curacao, barspoon of maraschino liquor, 2 dashes angostura bitters.

This worked out really well. It’s still bittersweet, but it’s much better balanced. The orange is still present, but more subdued, and the earthy herbaceous notes becomes the most forward flavor.

I didn’t try this final version with rye, I switched to bourbon because I was trying to smooth out some of the sharp edges. It would probably still be good with rye, but I liked this a lot. I’m not sure about serving over ice. It’s definitely good cold and I don’t think the dilution hurt, but if I was more committed to perfecting the recipe I would definitely try serving it in a chilled Nick & Nora.

Doing this was fun. I already like riffing and making up drinks, and having some rules to work within made me more thoughtful. I just need someone to drink more of these drinks for me so I can try out more variations. I’ve got a picture, but I keep getting a JSON error when I try to upload it. Picture an old fashioned, but more brown and you’ve got the idea.

I was cleaning out my refrigerator last week and came across a ginger ale. I thought it would be nice to have a little whiskey ginger would be a nice treat while I was cleaning and getting ready to move. I added in a generous pour of Cynar and it was good, like really good. I think there’s some real potential for some kind of Cynar Mule.

I didn’t measure anything, so no recipe or entry.

I’ve never made clear ice before, mostly because I didn’t want to devote the space to it. Just moved into a new place and it already has a standup freezer in the basement. I’m planning on trying out making clear ice sometime this summer after I finish unpacking.

What I’d really like are some tools for making something like pebble ice without an expensive contraption.

I was thinking of a Boulevardier when I started, although I deviated from that pretty quickly. I’ll riff on this a little more before the end of the month.

1 oz rye, 1 oz Cynar, 1/4 oz dry curacao, dash orange bitters. I would garnish with a twist of lemon or orange, but I haven’t had fresh citrus around for awhile.

It’s pleasantly bittersweet and warming, overall pretty good. The orange flavor goes well with both the rye and the Cynar. Could be better though, I think the sweetness is not right. Maybe a less sweet orange liqueur or maybe add a splash of maraschino to make it sweeter?