Pama Presidente

I like Pama, the (relatively) new pomegranate liqueur produced by Heaven Hill. It's not overly sweet like so many liqueurs, it has a pleasing berry-like tartness to it, and it nicely captures the essense of pomegrante, which mass market grenadines often fail to do. So it seemed worth experimenting with in cocktails.

Naturally, the first drink I turned to was El Presidente, the popular Cuban cocktail from the Prohibition era. (I wrote up a history of it for Lost Magazine that appears here.) it's made with rum, vermouth, curaçao, and a dash of pomegrante. I've been using pomegranate molasses for a while, since it has a robustness to the taste that I really enjoy. But with a bottle of Pama on my shelf, I started playing around.

And it works nicely. My tastes tend toward tart (although I don't go for the full Hemingway – he liked his daiquiries with lime juice and no sugar), and by not using sweet grenandine you get more pomegranate, less sugar toothache.

Give it a try. I made several versions, but here's the one I liked best:

2 oz. aged rum
1/2 oz. curaçao
3/4 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. Pama liqueur

Combine in mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass.