Idea Man

Idea Man by Paul MacDonald

Here’s a toast to the IDEAMAN with a wonderfully apropos cocktail. Paul MacDonald is the creative mind behind the bar at Philadelphia’s Friday Saturday Sunday, where he has earned his own reputation as an idea man. He learned the cocktail trade on the job, starting at a speakeasy style bar in his hometown of Bethlehem Pennsylvania. His inventive ingredients run the gamut from a well known smoked eggplant cocktail to his mathematically accurate “Fibonacci” cocktails which build upon the famous sequence.

a great idea

In his “Idea Man” he uses a favorite ratio for his pure spirit cocktails, which he says is “essentially an augmented Hanky Panky spec”. The Hanky-Panky, as I’m sure you know, is the drink that Ada “Coley” Coleman, head bartender at the Savoy in London, famously served Sir Charles Hawtry sometime in the early nineteen twenties, which led him to exclaim, ‘By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!’ Its equal parts gin and sweet vermouth are merely altered with a few dashes of Fernet Branca, which completely changes the drink. MacDonald uses Amaro Nepeta in his rum based cocktail, an unusual bitter made primarily from Nepitella, a mint varietal which grows in the southern Sicilian countryside. I’ve substituted the minty amaro Braulio here at MacDonald’s suggestion, which comes close if you can’t get around regional distribution issues for the Nepeta. When asked why this cocktail is named “Idea Man”, MacDonald replied, “I prefer to ask, “why not?” Here’s to the ideas, may they never run dry – cheers!

this pair has spoken

Idea Man by Paul MacDonald

1 ¼ oz El Dorado 12

1 ¼ oz Cocchi Torino

½ oz Amaro Nepeta

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass. No garnish.

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