A Wish for Grace

The Wish Cube will likely enter the puzzle box history books, due to its designer provenance, complexity, beauty and rarity.  So here’s an apropos toast with a cocktail originally created for the Smithsonian’s “Raise a Glass to History” gala, which celebrated the bicentennial of a famous American flag.  The “A Wish for Grace” is a modern classic from mixologist Steven Liles of San Francisco’s landmark rum paradise, Smuggler’s Cove.  It’s named after Grace Wisher, the 13 year-old indentured African American servant who helped Mary Pickersgill sew the Great Garrison Flag in 1813, which is better known as the “Star-Spangled Banner” – the flag which inspired the U.S. National Anthem and now hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  The cocktail features a New England style pot still rum and Madeira which would have been prominent and popular at that time in history.  History never tasted so good.  It’s particularly poignant right now to recall this historic symbol of the freedom that America has stood and fought for throughout its history.  So close your eyes, raise your glass, and make a wish, wherever you may be in the world.  Here’s hoping all your wishes come true.  Cheers! 

A Wish for Grace by Steven Liles

A Wish for Grace by Steven Liles:

1 ½ oz New England style amber rum

¾ oz Blandy’s 5 Yr Verdelho Medeira

½ oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

¾ oz fresh lemon juice

½ oz rich simple syrup

2 dashes aromatic bitters

Shake ingredients together over ice and strain into a favorite glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist.

Puzzle box, puzzle bright, solving you will take all night

I wish I may, I wish I might, have this cocktail ease my plight.