The late Richard Nixon once said, “You can relight a cigar, but it’ll never taste the same.” You’re welcome to apply that to any situation you choose but in this case I’m using it to reference great cocktails of yesteryear, attempting to do better, and how sometimes you should just maybe bring it all back instead of trying to improve upon the original.

Yeah…

Sometimes we forget about herbs that aren’t mint because mint is such a bar staple. Without it we’d have no juleps, mojitos, and smashes. A bit of a shame…Well for two out of three. I could do without mojitos but when was the last time you had a basic gin or whiskey smash? So good.

Off the top of my head we’ve used basil and shiso in the past but everything else, including the woody varieties like bay, thyme, and marjoram, we’ve used sparingly, you have to approach with caution. Lavender? Please no. Lots of bartenders use it but I scrubbed myself with Dr. Bronner’s for so many years I can’t get out of my head that any cocktail with lavender tastes like soap. Same goes with cherry. You’ve got to walk on eggshells lest your drink taste like Robitussin.

Enter: sage. Seems to be the exception in small doses. Goes well with lemon and especially persimmon for whatever reason.

Simmons and Cash (2.0)

1 oz. White Rum

.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Housemade Spiced Rum

.5 oz. Housemade Persimmon Liqueur

.25 oz. Cashew Amazake Orgeat

.25 oz. Salted Persimmon Honey

2 Dashes Sage Bitters

This ended up being pretty tasty, the sage gives a nice finish to the end and without it, the drink tastes a little flat. The cool thing about this cocktail is that almost every ingredient has been tinkered with (sans fresh lime and white rum) and in some cases (persimmon liqueur, cashew orgeat) there’s been some rehashing of scraps into something of value, otherwise known as thoughtful usage.