Stars And Stripes

This is another Pousse-Cafe layered drink. It is actually one of the easier ones to do and I might recommend it as an introduction to making Pousse-Cafe. That is because the ingredients are all very different and tend to stack with the help of a half-teaspoon measuring spoon.

The problem I had is that the recipe is wrong, and I knew it before I started. To get a red-white-and-blue cocktail for Independence Day or President's day celebration, you need to have the cream in the middle. But cream is fatty and I already knew it was lighter than both other liqueurs that have so much sugar in them. So after trying and failing at the recipe, I did it again in the order shown below. This might make a better drink for Bastille day, but at least it works.

• 3/4  oz. Cherry Heering
• 3/4 oz. blue curacao
• 3/4 oz. half-and-half

Pour each layer carefully over the back of a measuring spoon into a Pousse-Cafe glass so that they remain on separate layers. Refrigerate for a half hour before serving.

(El) Presidente

There's a couple of recipes with the "President" name. In the New York Bartender's Guide the Presidente is light rum, in other books it is El Presidente with dark or "dark or light" rum with the rest of the recipe remaining the same. I've even seen orange juice substituted for the triple sec and light rum used in one President recipe.

Anyway, I'm coming down on the side of the New York Bartender's Guide for the best recipe. Light rum keeps the drink dry and similar to a rum Cosmopolitan. Grenadine, present in every recipe, makes for a ridiculous light pink colors that doesn't seem presidential at all.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• several dashes grenadine
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.