The Ratón Cocktail

Rum and sherry are two great tastes that taste great together. During Seattle Sherry Week (yes, that’s a thing), I wrote about this pairing and included the recipe for Rumba’s Sherry Week cocktail as well as my own favorite rum/sherry concoction. I’ve now got another to share!

A few days back I was at Bathtub Gin in Seattle while Matt James was manning the bar. Bathtub Gin is one of Seattle’s relatively unknown gems, a tiny bar in a back alley with a true speakeasy vibe, sans arm garters and secret passwords. When Matt’s at the helm, I don’t bother with the cocktail menu – I just give some general directions and magic happens. The other night however, I glanced over the menu and saw the Ratón cocktail – rum, sherry, maraschino, and yellow chartreuse. That got my attention.

Matt told me that the recipe was his last-minute invention for Sherry Week –last minute or not, it’s delicious. The East India Solera sherry is from Spain and is a blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherries. In the absence of that specific sherry, a cream sherry will work. The Ratón name alludes to a famous Spanish fighting bull that killed three matadors and injured thirty more over several years.  As they say, mess with the bull and you get the horns.

Bathtub Gin, Seattle (Matt James)

  • 1.5 oz Cruzan Aged Dark Rum
  • 1 oz Lustau East India Solera sherry
  • 0.25 oz maraschino
  • 0.25 oz yellow chartreuse

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass. Cut a long orange twist, expressing over glass. Curl the orange twist and drape over glass to resemble bull horns.

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