Palmetto

Recipe: Palmetto (serves one)

• 1 1/2 oz. aged rum (we used Myers’s)
• 1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 2 dashes (= 1/4 tsp.) orange bitters
• orange twist

Combine liquid ingredients in ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake, then strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist.

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The Palmetto is made similarly to the Sweet Manhattan, with an aged spirit, sweet vermouth, and bitters. It doesn’t taste like a Manhattan, though. Its flavor is rich and tropical, without being too sweet.

A recipe for the Palmetto appeared as early as 1908. That version uses a 2:1 ratio of rum to sweet vermouth, and leaves out the bitters. The 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book version includes the orange bitters and uses equal parts rum and vermouth. We tried it both ways, and prefer the latter recipe, at least when using Myers’s rum.