Physcadelic Summer

The name is misspelled and always has been. Physcadelic Summer arrived that way in the legacy recipe files and it stays that way here, partly out of respect for the record and partly because a drink this loud was never going to be troubled by orthography.

Everything about it is committed to the visual. Parfait Amour leads: a violet, floral liqueur flavored with orange, vanilla and rose petals that shows up almost nowhere else on a modern back bar. Blue curacao pushes the color further, Cointreau sharpens the orange, coconut rum rounds it out, and grenadine goes in twice, once in the blend and once drizzled over the top so it bleeds down through the purple. Blended with crushed ice and poured into a sugar-rimmed glass, it looks like a beach sunset painted by someone who had only heard about beaches.

Glass: Sugar-rimmed cocktail glass | Strength: Medium | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 5 minutes

Bartender’s tip: The drizzle is the whole finish, so do it last and do it slowly, letting the grenadine find its own way down rather than stirring it in. Half a cup of crushed ice is the right amount: less and it will not hold the frozen texture, more and the color washes out to a pale lilac and you lose the one thing this drink is genuinely good at.