The Red Lodge

I'm a big fan of tiki drinks because they combine skillful complexity with a festive spirit. I created "The Red Lodge" as a Halloween drink, using the classic Zombie tiki drink as a template, but swapping in autumn flavors and complementary spirits to better match the feel of the season. Playing against the sunny tropical theme of the usual drinks, I took those principles, and applied them to the seasonal flavors. The rye whiskey balances the cloying sweetness of syrups, with the lemon juice and grenadine working in concert with the apple brandy (as they do in the Jack Rose) to form a counterpoint. The house made grenadine and orgeat add subtle floral notes from orange and rose flower water. The grapefruit, orgeat, and Herbsaint are a callback to the Zombie cocktail upon which I based this drink. The name is a reference to the Red Room/Black Lodge of Twin Peaks, with the rye whiskey and apple brandy evoking the logging town that was the show's setting. The Red Lodge is a BadCat Cocktails original creation, that I believe will appeal to whiskey fans or tiki aficionados.