World-Class Bartender Taktumi Watanabe Gracefully Crafts a Gorgeous ‘Smoked Rum Martinez’

Award-winning bartender Takumi Watanabe demonstrates how to gracefully craft a gorgeous neo-classic “Smoked Rum Martinez” utilizing a simple recipe of two parts rum, one part maraschino liqueur, one to two dashes of cherry vanilla bitters, and wood smoke.

Stir with ice, strain into smoke-filled decanter, swirl, then strain into cocktail coupe. Before stirring with ice, mix ingredients and taste. Adjust Maraschino until you can detect its flavor in the drink. The Smoking Gun from PolyScience can be used to generate the smoke. Recommend a wood smoke instead of a tea smoke with this drink. Smokiness of the drink will vary based on the amount of time in the decanter – a few quick swirls is sufficient. Smokiness of the drink will start strong, but mellow as the drink sits.