Category: Rum

Restaurant: Café ArtScience, Cambridge, MA

Creator: Todd Maul

Inspiration: “I wanted to create an amuse-bouche for cocktail enthusiasts using alcohol vapors while incorporating classic tiki flavors in a decomposed way through flavored ice cubes and a rum mixture.”

Key Ingredients: Appleton 12 Rum, Cockspur Rum, clarified lime juice, burnt cinnamon, flavored ice, cachaca garnish.

Price: $14

What the judges said: We’re generally not fans of smoke and mirror theatrics from our bartenders, and there are plenty used here, but the result is a deliciously earnest cocktail that features almond and pineapple-flavored ice cubes engulfed in alcohol vapors. Customers must first inhale the vapors, which are contained under a sugar and cachaca crisp placed over the glass. We know; it sounds a bit too much, but it’s a damn good sip and a head turner, which leads to more sales of the cocktail, and that, friends, is magical.

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