With Halloween season upon us naturally this week’s cocktail has a spooky theme! Caribbean folklore legend has it that La Diablesse who appears as a beautifully elegantly dressed woman on nights of a full moon, preys on wayward men (having possibly spent too much time at the local rum haunt) who stop to speak with her, leading them into the forest where they reappear the next day with their necks snapped having fallen off a ravine or into a river. She is known as the “devil woman” and is a symbol of the temptress and demonic lust in many cultures in the Caribbean.

Rum is our spirit of choice this week and majority of the world’s rum is produced in the Caribbean, home of La Diablesse. Many people forget the wonders of rum once the colder weather kicks in but dark rums have nuances of baking spice, vanilla, molasses and caramel…all suitable for this chillier weather. Our cocktail is a play on a Manhattan (my cold weather cocktail of choice) swapping the whiskey for dark rum. It’s beautiful blood red hues and spicy aromas are more than tempting, but I don’t recommend more than two or you may invoke La Diablesse…

You’ll need:

1 oz Ron Zacapa or dark rum of choice

1 1/5 oz Carpano Antica Formula (Sweet Vermouth)

3 dashes Angustura bitters

Cherries for garnish

How to:

Simply add all ingredients with ice and stir well. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with 3 cherries.