I found this recipe in Imbibe Magazine a couple of years ago, enjoyed another one last night, and I love absolutely everything about it—even the absinthe, which is an acquired taste that’s grown on me over the past decade.

Michael Shea, at the Rum Club in Portland, Oregon, gets credit for creating this drink. The vermouth and bitters balance the rich Demerara rum (I used El Dorado 12), and the lemon oils floating on the surface take my head to a beach far, far away.

Demerara rum is produced on the Caribbean coast of South America in Guyana and takes its name from the Demerara River, which flows into the sea at the nation’s capital, Georgetown. It’s distilled from molasses and has a significant molasses character with moderate funk (fermentation flavors). All Demerara rum is produced at a single, government-owned distillery company that owns some of the oldest continuously operating stills in the world, at least two of which are wooden. The rum bottled in house at the distillery sells under the El Dorado label, but some of the company’s rum is exported for use by blenders such as the Wood’s, Lamb’s, and Lemon Hart brands, which are all overtly based on Demerara rum.

PEDRO MARTINEZ
2 oz Demerara rum (e.g., El Dorado 5-year)
1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
¼ oz Maraschino Luxardo liqueur
10 drops aromatic bitters
3 dashes Orange bitters
4 drops Absinthe
1 Small strip of lime peel
2 Lemon twists

Squeeze the lime peel inside a mixing glass, then drop in the peel and add the remaining liquid ingredients. Stir the ingredients with ice until cold, then strain into a glass holding a single large ice cube (a monster clear-ice hunk!). Squeeze 2 lemon twists over the top of the drink to express the oils, then discard (the twists … just to be clear).