The Suffering Bastard

If you're really into mixed drinks, you may have heard of this one before. I had not. Until I came across it in the papers of a lieutenant colonel serving in Britain's Special Operations Executive. The man had parachuted into Burma during World War II to organize resistance among the Karen hill tribes. He conducted sabotage and ambush operations against the Japanese in intensely unforgiving jungle terrain. Clearly, the man earned the title "suffering bastard" (and by "bastard" I mean hero, in case you had any doubts).

So how do you make a suffering bastard? I came across several recipes on the internet, but none of them were given by SOE veterans who dropped into the jungle to fight the bad guys. So here's my man's recipe, taken from the scrawlings I found on the top of a page in the archives:

4 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 part gin
1 part rum
juice of 1 lime
ginger ale
mint
slice of lemon

So give it a try! If you don't like it, blame the brave men who saved the world (or just try a different version).

Today's image comes from Trader Vic's. It does not represent an SOE-certified suffering bastard, but another variation.