The Baroque Cocktail

Let’s get right to the point. The Baroque is a cocktail with rum and gin. And it’s good. And if your first thought was “rum and gin together, that’s nasty”, I wouldn’t be surprised. But this combination works very, very well. I stumbled across this drink at the excellent cocktail blog A Dash of Bitters. If you like cocktails (and good writing) you should check it out.

In any event, I do not often think about combining rum with gin, it seems like wearing flip-flops when you are in a Tuxedo. But as I found with last week’s cocktail The Last Word, sometimes what sounds like a train wreck is quite good, you just need to try it.

This recipe specifically called for Jamaican Rum along with gin, lime, sugar and a dash of Maraschino. I used Appleton’s 12 Year Old, a smooth, flavorful aged (but not super-dark) Jamaican rum. The gin lightened the heaviness of the rum and added some unexpected depth to the cocktail, but make no mistake, the Baroque is very much a lime/rum drink. But the addition of the gin and maraschino makes the Baroque come alive and keeps you coming back with new layers of flavor. Oddly, the Baroque ends up tasting like a somewhat elegant version of a Tiki drink- so maybe it is a little like wearing flip flops with your Tux on.

One final note here, you need a darker, fuller-flavored (preferably Jamaican) rum for this recipe to work. We tried a lighter rum (Barbancourt 8 year old from Haiti) and the drink was less balanced, with the gin showing way too much for both Carolyn and I. As for gin, any good dry gin will work. We tried the Baroque with Tanqueray, Nolet and the No. 209 and all were good.

The Baroque:

(Adapted from A Dash of Bitters and The Baroque Hotel)

Notes Before You Start:

• If you do not have Maraschino the drink will still be worth trying, just add a tiny bit more sugar. You will lose some complexity, but it will still be good.

• 1 and 1/2 oz. Jamaican rum (Appleton’s 12 yr. old is nice)
• 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
• 3/4 oz. dry gin
• 2 dashes simple syrup (or 1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar)
• 1 dash maraschino

Assemble:

1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, strain into a cocktail glass or coupe and serve.