If you love a fancy Old Fashioned or Manhattan, I highly encourage you to try a nice aged rum in your cocktail.
Here are some good aged rums that you should be able to find in your local liquor store (as with whiskey, the longer aged in the barrel the more complex the flavor):
- Diplomatico
- Appleton Estate
- Mount Gay
- Ron Zacapa
- Bacardi Grand Reserva
Here are a few variations we kept going back to last year after we were gifted a few different bottles:
A) La Manhattana
1.5 oz Aged Rum
.5 oz Sweet vermouth
Dash of interesting bitters (try the Bitters Lab, Burnt Honey & Hops or Banana & Hickory Nut Bitters)
Stir well and fast with ice and serve up in a chilled coup or over ice in a rocks glass; garnish with a Luxardo cherry.
B) Ye Old Nut
1.5 oz Aged Rum
.5 oz Nocino
Small spoon of Luxardo cherry juice
Dash of interesting bitters (try the Bitters Lab, Burnt Honey & Hops or Banana & Hickory Nut Bitters)
Stir well and fast with ice and serve up in a chilled coup or over ice in a rocks glass; garnish with a Luxardo cherry.
