It seemed obvious that if Lindsey were hosting Mixology Mondays, a theme of brown bitter and stirred would be used. This is a woman whose love of rye and amari are well-documented. She and I recently made a trip to visit 320 Main, a hidden gem tucked away in sleepy Seal Beach, where bartender Jason Schiffer made us an excellent cocktail of his named “The Devil’s Own”. This is my homage to that drink, which fits the brown bitter and stirred theme perfectly.
Daral Diablo
* 1½ oz Clément VSOP rum
* ½ oz Fernet-Branca
* ¼ oz Clément creole shrubb
* ¼ oz Trader Tiki vanilla syrupStir all ingredients over rocks, then strain and serve up. Garnish with a lemon twist.
The vanilla syrup works in this quantity because of the Clément combo. The VSOP rum is a very earthy Martinique rhum agricole, which somewhat counterintuitively provides this cocktail with its bitter, grassy backbone. The creole shrubb, an orange liqueur, certainly provides an undertone of fruit, but moreso orange blossom and honeysuckle. As opposed to drawing vanilla notes from the rum, the Trader Tiki syrup goes ahead and gives you the real thing.
In many cocktails, Fernet is paired with other bitter elements to help highlight it’s herbal flavors. In this case, however, I wanted to emphasize the floral components while still retaining and celebrating Fernet’s mint and saffron flavor profile. The West Coast’s favorite amaro is capable of making its presence felt, even at half an ounce against the rhum agricole, orange liqueur and vanilla syrup. The lemon twist gives the drink just the right amount of acidity to balance it all out.
The name comes from the phrase dar al diablo lo que es merecido, roughly translated in Spanish as the phrase “to give the Devil his due”. To that end, if you enjoy the Daral Diablo, I hope you head to 320 Main in Seal Beach to try out the brown, bitter and stirred cocktail from which it’s based.
Addendum
Owner/bartender Jason Schiffer was named this site’s Bartender of the Year
