Ingredients
- 2 oz Aged rum
- 0.25 oz Sweet vermouth
- 1 Bar Spoon Honey syrup*
- 2 Dash Angostura bitters
Method
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, over ice.
- Stir well to chill and strain into an Old Fashioned/rocks glass.
- Express a piece of orange peel over your drink and serve.
*Editor’s Note:Â To make honey syrup, combine honey and warm water in a 2:1 ratio (by volume). Stir thoroughly until the honey is dissolved.
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To date, the vast majority of cocktail recipes we’ve published in Boss Hunting‘s online pages have endured more or less unchanged for the last 100 years.
This time around, however, we’ll be taking a run at a certified ‘contemporary classic’: that is to say, a cocktail recipe developed after the mid-1980s, that still enjoys a following today.
The Chet Baker cocktail satisfies both these parameters, with the recipe pioneered by Attaboy NYC owner Sam Ross, during the veteran barman’s Milk & Honey days. The most simplistic description for this neo-classic rum-based beverage is as a sort of halfway house between the Manhattan and Old Fashioned.
Working in response to demands from Sasha Petraske (Milk & Honey’s legendary founder) for a “stirred summer drink”, Ross came up with this formulation which serves to highlight dark, aged rum.
Honey and a whisper of sweet Vermouth – preferably Italian – help to coax out your chosen rum’s tropical notes and wooded tones. Consequently, making this with a quality rum bottle is non-negotiable.
As for the name? There’s not a lot of documented evidence to suggest there’s a strong thematic link to the reigning prince of ‘Cool Jazz’. Though we do know (based on press coverage around Baker’s 1987 Tokyo concert) that the Funny Valentine crooner was partial, among other things, to dark spirits.
Maybe it’s simply enough to take a look at the recipe and make yourself one of these while listening to Chet Baker Sings (1954). Cool, smooth, moody: the album’s not half bad either.
Did you enjoy this guide to the Chet Baker? If so, then consider checking out some of our other classic cocktail recipes – including our most popular below:
