Last Wednesday, in an act of bored desperation, I went live on Instagram and mixed a few cocktails for an audience of 10. I made a pickletini, then I mixed some shitty rosé with a blackberry shrub, then I just started pulling random bottles from my bar cart and demanding the viewers “give me a liquor” on which to build a drink. Among those bottles were pineapple rum, Mexican fernet, and peach liqueur.
The next morning, I had a DM from a bartender friend of mine who had seen the carnage. It simply said “1.5 pineapple, 0.5 fernet, 0.5 peach.” “That’s a 3-ingredient happy hour!” I said. “Try it first before you thank me,” he replied.
I have now tried it, and am I am ready to thank him, for it is a very good drink. The baking spices and bitterness in the Mexican fernet temper the sweetness of the pineapple rum and peach liqueur, giving the simple drink a surprisingly complex, decidedly tiki flavor profile.
It’s a dark drink that looks much more foreboding than it tastes, but there is something tumultuous about it. If I had to pick a weather phenomenon to describe it—which no one is asking me to do—I would choose “impending tropical storm.” There’s clearly trouble brewing, but it feels kind of fun and exhilarating. To make it, you will need:
1 1/2 ounces pineapple rum
1/2 Mexican fernet (such as Fernet Vallet)
1/2 ounce peach liqueur
Pour everything into a stirring glass filled with ice and stir to chill and dilute. Strain into a coupe and garnish with whatever fruit or zest you happen to have on hand.