A Wish for Grace is a historical re-enactment in a glass, created by Steven Liles of Smuggler’s Cove for a Smithsonian project called “Raise a Glass to History.”
The drink is named for Grace Wisher, a young African-American servant girl who helped to sew the Star-Spangled Banner flag. Liles uses ingredients that would have felt familiar to early American drinkers: amber rum, Madeira fortified wine, and orange curaçao (a dry style, if possible).
Spiced rum was a common product in that time period, so it wouldn’t be out of place here in place of the aged rum. You could also switch out the simple syrup for brown or Demerara syrup, or even oleo saccharum (a common sweetener in punches of the era).
