How fortunate that Samhain falls on a Thursday (my cocktail-reviewing day) this year. And with the time difference, this review'll show up on your computer screen in the morning, and you'll have time to rush out and buy the ingredients before your big evening spooktacular.
Here's the recipe. It's real simple:
- 2 ounces dark rum
- ½ ounce dry vermouth
- 2 black olives
- orange sugar
Stir and strain into a chilled martini glass that has been rimmed with the orange sugar, then garnish with the black olives.
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| photo by Steve Murello |
That being said, I wasn't too sure about using dry vermouth in this drink. It's Halloween. Drinks are supposed to be sweet. Rum is sweet. Why sour a drink with dry vermouth when you could add sweet vermouth and have basically a rum Manhattan? With orange sugar 'round the rim of the glass? That sounded mighty nice to me. (I added a photo so you could get the idea.)
But I got my comeuppance. HGTV is on top of things. This is where that orange sugar comes in. That's right, folks: just as the salt around the rim of a good margarita really makes the difference, the sugar in this cocktail isn't just window-dressing. It actually serves a purpose: to temper the dryness of the vermouth with a bit of sweetness. And it works. As long as you take a nip of orange stuff with every sip, you'll be just fine. The smoky dark rum will be rounded out by tannins and botanicals, which are then balanced by the sugar. The olives at the end make the perfect dessert. Using sweet vermouth would be overdoing it.
Try it if you want, though. It's Halloween. Overkill is underrated.
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