Daiquiri

Original oil on panel, 12" x 12".

I'm not sure I had ever tasted a daiquiri before making them for this recipe. Maybe once, long ago, and the memory of the cloyingly-sweet slushy of a drink was enough to deter me until now. Turns out daiquiris, made properly, are really good. How can light rum, lime juice and sugar (a small amount of sugar) be bad? 

Oh, by the way, there is something even better than light rum, lime juice and sugar. DARK rum, lime juice and a little less sugar. Still a daiquiri. Mmmm.

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Embassy

Original oil on panel, 12" x 12".

One September I went to Boots vegan bakery and lounge with a friend. It was the first cool day in a long while, and I asked the owner, Alison, to make me a drink that "tastes like Fall." I've known Alison long enough to know she would pull it off, and she did not disappoint.

The drink she made was the Embassy, and it was about to become my new favorite drink. The Embassy is richly layered, warming and a bit spicy. Basically, Fall in a glass. It has three different liquors and liqueurs, plus citrus and bitters.

As I debated how to represent so many ingredients, I had a stroke of luck. Raising the Bar, a vintage travel trailer filled with old-school barware goodness, appeared in my neighborhood. Just inside the door was a fantastic set of multicolored cordial glasses, three of which appear here with dark rum, Cointreau and brandy.

To top it all off, the fall theme gave me the perfect excuse to use some leftover wallpaper from my parents' old house. All of this added up to a fun challenge, and I'm happy with the result.

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