"Back in 2008, sherry was still relatively uncommon in cocktails, especially as a base spirit. After a tasting of sherries at the bar, we were left with some open bottles to play with. That night, as I was making a Queen’s Park Swizzle (a classic Mojito-like mix of rum, lime, sugar, and a crown of bitters on crushed ice) for a guest, the smell of the rum connected sharply with the amontillado sherry we had tried hours earlier. I came up with a riff on the QPS, splitting the base between the slightly funky Barbancourt rhum and a dry, nutty amontillado, swapped in our punchy ginger syrup, and added a touch of spicy falernum. It was an “ah-ha” moment if ever there was one: the combination of rum and amontillado was delicious, the splitting of a base spirit with a fortified wine became an ongoing theme in my cocktails for years, and the drink would go on to be riffed on my a number of my fellow Death & Co bartenders. What I most love about the CPS is that it's both complex and crushable, and the creativity that the drink's structure invites. My favorite combination of the rum and sherry happens to be the Barbancourt and Lustau Amontillado, but it's equally delicious with other rums or sherries of various styles." —AD