Stirred and served up, the Bywater drinks bittersweet and spirit-forward, set up like a Brooklyn with aged rum where the whiskey would sit and Averna's dark, bitter-orange richness where the vermouth would go. Green Chartreuse lends herbal lift, a little Velvet Falernum adds a whisper of clove and lime, and two kinds of bitters with an expressed orange peel keep it aromatic, a drink made for lingering after dinner.
Garnish: Orange Peel, Maraschino Cherry
Stirred · Coupe · Up
add
Combine aged rum, Averna, green Chartreuse, Velvet Falernum, Peychaud's bitters, and orange bitters in a mixing glass.
stir
Add ice and stir until well chilled and properly diluted.
strain
Strain into a chilled coupe or Nick & Nora glass.
express
Express an orange twist over the surface, then discard it.
garnish
Garnish with a cherry.
Chris Hannah created the Bywater at Arnaud's French 75 Bar in New Orleans around 2007 or 2008, conceiving it as a rum-based answer to the Brooklyn. He took its name from the Bywater, the riverside neighborhood that lies downstream of the French Quarter. The drink has since settled in as a widely recorded modern New Orleans classic, and later bartenders have adapted it, some trading the Averna for Amer Picon — the Brooklyn's own modifier — and leaving out the orange bitters.