Praying Mantis

An equal-parts Scotch cocktail from Attaboy's famous "bug cocktail" family. Smoky Islay whisky meets herbal Gran Classico with bright lemon and spicy ginger.

The Praying Mantis was created by bartender Brandon Bramhall at Attaboy Nashville — a Nashville, Tennessee outpost of the original Attaboy bar opened in New York City by Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy in 2011 on Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side. The Attaboy bar group became known for championing equal-parts cocktail architecture — the principle that four or more ingredients in identical proportions produce balanced drinks through complementary flavor opposition rather than one element dominating — a structural philosophy established by the Last Word (gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino, lime) and extended by Sam Ross's Paper Plane (bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, lemon) and Naked and Famous (mezcal, Aperol, yellow Chartreuse, lime). The Praying Mantis applies this logic to Scotch: Islay single malt Scotch whisky, Gran Classico Bitter (the Swiss bitter aperitivo produced by Tempus Fugit Spirits, based on the original Torino-style bitter liqueur formula), and complementary citrus and sweet components. Gran Classico's gentian-and-citrus bitterness engages with Islay Scotch's smoke and peat in a way that Campari's citrus-focused bitterness does not, creating a more earthy, deeply flavored equal-parts preparation.