Bywater
- 1¾ aged rum (Dorly's 12)
- 3/4 oz Averna
- 1/2 oz green Chartreuse
- 1/4 oz falernum (Maggie's Farm)
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- 2 dashes Regans' orange bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Express an orange twist over the surface then discard. Garnish with a cherry.
The Bywater was created by Chris Hannah in 2007 at Arnaud's French 75 Bar in New Orleans. We discovered it in a Punch article which suggests it is a New Orleans variation on the Brooklyn swapping the whiskey for rum and the vermouth for Averna. But once you add half an ounce of green Chartreuse you have broken free of any prior associations and you are in new and undiscovered territory.
The Bywater is strange. It is like a bunch of prima donnas, each doing their own thing brought together by the rum which retreats back stage. It is hard to recognise it as a rum drink. It is hard to recognise it as anything—it's wierd, but its very wierdness makes it interesting. It is very drinkable, if not very recognizable, possibly assisted by its strength, at 1.9 standard drinks according to Difford's Guide.
The original recipe calls for Amer Picon as in the Brooklyn but this is not easily available. According to Hoefling, Hannah suggests replacing the Amer Picon with Averna, adding two dashes of orange bitters and expressing an orange peel over the surface. This also works very well as a substitute for Amer Picon in the Creole Cocktail.