Mandeville

Despite using good ingredients--or I should say in spite of these ingredients--some drinks just don't work out. Maybe it's because I've been making all the best drinks in the New York Bartender's guide because I have to drink them, then I am left with less desirable ones going forward. If that's the case, I'm going to have to suffer through some pretty bad ones in the coming years. The thing is, I really wanted to like this drink and had been looking forward to having all the ingredients and finally doing it. It just goes to show that balance is everything when it comes to mixology.

The Mandeville is a Jamaica rum drink that is supposed to make a point of drinking a lot of rum. It's nearly an all-liquor cocktail, which is not always a bad thing, but there could be less of it. Look at how if fills this double Old Fashioned glass with just two ice balls!

Upon tasting, I decided that the point of this drink is to recreate the flavor of Jägermeister using rums, absinthe, grenadine, lemon juice and cola. It works very well for all that. There's the sweet and dark cola center that's backed by the caramel of dark rum. Lemon and fruity tartness are there to balance the heat of white rum, and there's the licorice and herbal absinthe flavor that's a hallmark of
Jägermeister. But I rarely want to drink a double of Jägermeister. If I did, I'd rather have the real thing.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 2 oz. dark rum
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
• 1 tbsp. Pernod (Absinte Refined used)
• 1/2 oz. cola

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. (I recommend chilling the cola separately and adding after shaking. Shaking cola is a bad idea.) Pour into a double Old Fashioned glass (add cola and stir).