вЂњThe simplicity of the drink is what I loved,вЂќ he says. Instead, it became a drink ordered by fellow bartenders, including Venegas. There, most of the guests order lagers or whiskey and Cokes they rarely even look at the cocktail menu. Santer put the Revolver on BrunoвЂ™s 10-cocktail list, but the drink didnвЂ™t make much of an impression. The drinkвЂ™s name, apart from nodding to the bourbon brand, evoked the gun-smoke aroma emitted by the flamed orange twist and doubled as a tribute to the classic 1966 album by The Beatles. вЂњI saw DaleвЂ™s book, The Craft of the Cocktail, with him flaming an orange disc on the cover and, well, here we are.вЂќ вЂњOnce a month I'd ride my motorcycle down there and buy a few bottles for the bar.вЂќ As for the eye-catching garnish, Santer gives credit to bartender Dale DeGroff. вЂњDom Venegas was the spirits buyer at John Walker & Co.,вЂќ recalls Santer.

At the time, bartenders were just rediscovering the once-ubiquitous cocktail ingredient, and only one shop in San Francisco carried it. To bring the bourbon and Tia Maria together, Santer turned to orange bitters. The brand took off in San Francisco, where Stephen Beal, a whiskey business veteran who worked with Diageo (which owns the brand), and Bulleit himself hand-sold many bottles, marketing it as an affordable craft spirit.В вЂњBulleit began as a tiny brand and our strategy was engagement on a one-on-one basis with our вЂpartners in chemistry,вЂ™вЂќ explains Beal. I started experimenting with it because I had it and needed to sell it.вЂќД«ulleit was a relatively new high-rye blend developed by lawyer Tom Bulleit. вЂњOne week I found myself with a case of Bulleit bourbon,вЂќ recalls Santer, вЂњa whiskey no one was going to call for, because no one knew what it was. As for the bourbon in his coffee-laced Manhattan project, the decision was mostly made for him at BrunoвЂ™s, the jazz club in San FranciscoвЂ™s Mission District where Santer worked as bar manager, his boss did the liquor buying. Of the few, Santer preferred the rum-based Tia Maria. At the time, there werenвЂ™t many coffee liqueurs on the market. вЂњI feel like coffee and chocolate are closely aligned flavors, not much of a leap there,вЂќ explains Santer, who notes that both flavors play well with citrus, another element he was hoping to include. That idea stuck with Santer, whose thoughts eventually turned from chocolate to coffee as a flavoring. One of the crucial ingredients in SanterвЂ™s Revolver was inspired by a friend who always added crГЁme de cacao to his Manhattans. I wanted to create a drink from readily available materials, that anyone with a little bit of skill could make.вЂќ вЂњI wanted to make a cocktail based in the classics without the use of in-house-only ingredients. вЂњMy initial thoughts around the Revolver were a reaction to both of those trends,вЂќ says Santer.

The long dark revolver