I concur with your opinion on the Sloegroni, especially for something to mix around holiday time.

I've been looking for a good "holiday-time" candidate for this new bottle of Hayman's Sloe Gin and I think I found it. Adding sloe gin as a fourth ingredient in an equal-parts Negroni recipe would only make the Negroni sweeter and heavier, so emphasizing the London dry and lightening the vermouth like this is a smart approach to take. The Hayman's Sloe Gin is particularly nice, and I went with Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Bitter to avoid overpowering it with Campari. Lacking a true "rosato vermouth" (of which there don't seem to be very many), I used Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato which does a good job of lightening things up. A superior Negroni; 5 stars.

This looks like Vic's non-blender version of the Beachcomber's Daiquiri. Using rhum agricole helps distinguish it from Donn's recipe (Rhum Negrita not being available stateside, probably for various reasons). This is too sweet, however, and I'm not sure if the Angostura is "right" with a rhum agricole-forward drink. Tried cutting the sweet components and will continue to experiment. It seems the emphasis should be on the interplay between the agricole and the orange liqueur; Cointreau strikes me as a good choice.

Made this with a fairly woody XO and a 20-year-old tawny. Tasted it before adding the absinthe and then after adding just one dash and found that the absinthe was more of a distraction from the interplay between the cognac and port than a real improvement. The maple syrup and Creole bitters are nice touches, though, that add richness and complexity to the drink. I can see why cognac+port is a traditional holiday indulgence. Seems like it would be great with fruitcake or plum pudding, or just sipping by the fire, will have to experiment further.