Palmetto

One with age and oak on it. A five to eight year Spanish-style rum from Cuba, Panama or the Dominican Republic has the vanilla and dried-fruit weight to meet the vermouth halfway. Light white rum vanishes, and heavy Jamaican pot still turns the drink into an argument.

Equal parts is the classic ratio and it works when your rum is assertive. With a softer rum, go two to one in the rum's favor and add a second dash of bitters. Tipping the other way, toward more vermouth, lands you closer to a fortified wine.

Angostura pushes clove and cinnamon, which drags the drink back into Manhattan territory. Orange bitters do the opposite: they lift the vermouth's citrus peel and let the rum's cane sugar read as fruit. Use both if you like, but keep the orange dominant.

Any small stemmed glass. A wine glass, a sherry copita, even a flute will do the actual job, which is keeping your hand off the bowl. If all you own is rocks glasses, put one in the freezer for ten minutes and serve without ice.

A classic Palmetto calls for 45 ml (1.5 oz) Aged rum, 45 ml (1.5 oz) Sweet vermouth, 2 dashes orange bitters Orange bitters. That single-serve spec scales cleanly — the recipe above converts it to oz and multiplies it for 2–4 drinks.

A standard Palmetto is roughly 28% ABV once mixed (before ice melt softens it further). That makes it spirit-forward — closer to a Martini than to a beer, so sip it slowly.

A Palmetto is shaken. About 13 seconds with plenty of ice chills and dilutes it correctly.