East India Negroni

Method

Mixology master Jim Meehan, of the Beard Award–winning PDT, created this rum-based riff on the Negroni in the fall of 2009. "Logic Rum typically stars in Cuban and Tiki cocktails, so I chose the Negroni as my inspiration to open bartenders’ minds to rum’s versatility," he explains. "East India sherry is a blend of oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherries that are aged in a hot, humid bodega in a special solera that mimics the conditions the wine would have undergone during transatlantic journeys of the seventeenth century."

If you’re going to sub the rum, Meehan recommends choosing an English-style rum with some barrel age, such as Appleton Reserve or Mount Gay Black Barrel. Martini, Luxardo, and Contratto bitters mix well, but you’ll have an easier time sourcing Campari.

• 2 ounces Banks 5-Island rum
• 3/4 ounces Lustau East India Solera sherry
• 3/4 ounces Campari
• 1 orange twist for garnish

Stir ingredients together with ice, then strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with one large ice cube. Garnish with the orange twist.

Reprinted with permission from Meehan’s Bartender Manual, by Jim Meehan, copyright © 2017 by Mixography Inc. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Photographs copyright © 2017 by Doron Gild.

Yield

1 cocktail