The Don Draper #2 @ Paramount with Perique Tobacco Liqueur

There has been a bit of a discussion recently about tobacco in drinks. I would suggest taking a look at Darcy S. O'Neil's Art Of Drink on the matter:

http://www.artofdrink.com/blog/nicotini-tobacco-infusions/

From this article we can conclude that certain libations are best left to the professionals to be confident they are safe for public consumption. Fortunately that's just what Ted Breaux of Jade Liqueurs has done with his Perique Tobacco Liqueur. A safe alternative to home made tobacco infusions and syrups.
Not only is Perique safe, the specific tobacco used also has a very interesting back story. I particularly like Suzonne Stirling's piece:

http://urbancomfort.typepad.com/urban_nest/2011/05/perique.html

I note that the Tobacco Road cocktail in Suzonne's piece is made like an Old Fashioned, which is exactly how to make a Don Draper #2... but with a slight difference....

Don Draper, the chain smoking, heavy drinking, main protagonist of Mad Men is obviously the inspiration for this drink. Here's Amanda and Marco of Paramount taking me through the making of a Don Draper #2. First is to smoke fill the glass to impart a really full, smoky flavour and before you ask, their smoking gun is pretty compact and they use cherry wood chips...

Don Draper #2

40ml Woodford Reserve Bourbon
20ml Perique Tobacco Liqueur
2 dash The Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole Chocolate Bitters
2 dash Regan's Orange Bitters
2 barspoon brown sugar

Slowly build all the ingredients, apart from the Perique, as you would an Old Fashioned. When done add the Perique at the end and stir in just a couple of times. Amanda prefers to keep the flavour of the Perique in tact rather than equal dilution with the Bourbon. Top the glass up again with smoke, transfer the drink into it and cover the top with a napkin. Then, when ready, serve the drink by removing the napkin.

Here's one of the early prototypes with the view from Paramount in the background, awesome! Not so long ago Paramount launched their new cocktail list and the Don Draper #2 was featured, we were lucky enough to have Bar Magazine along....

Perique Tobacco Liqueur is now available from www.sipormix.com/

Jade Liqueurs - www.bestabsinthe.com