The Tiki Drink Discussion Topic

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I tested this again:

 

2 oz Appleton 12

1 oz Atlantico Private Cask

1 oz Lemon Hart 151

1/2 oz Taylor's Falernum

3/4 oz lime juice

1 teaspoon grenadine

10 ml white grapefruit juice

5 ml tincture of cinnamon

1 dash Angostura

12 drops Jade 1901

 

 

Still pleased with it as my best attempt, but I'm yet hoping for something even better.

[FrogPrincesse]

Love your tiki glass collection, frog. I have the "Mr Bali Hai" mug ~ obtained it on my last visit to Shelter Island this past winter :->

 

Thank you. Mr. Bali Hai and his companion, The Goof, are my two favorite tiki mugs.

Edited July 8, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

A Donga Punch with La Favorite Coeur de Rhum, grapefruit and lime juice, cinnamon syrup. I went with the recipe from Total Tiki (also here) but it seemed a little sweet. I will reduce the cinnamon syrup a bit next time.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Earlier last week, Brian's Miller's take on the Zombie, Gantt's Tomb. Rye (Bulleit, although high proof like Rittenhouse would be best) and black rum (Coruba) for the base, plus the mandatory 151 Demerara rum (Lemon Hart). Pineapple, orange, and lemon for the juice; pimento liqueur for the spice. It's one of the rare tiki drinks with whiskey, with the Eastern Sour.

 

 It works, although nothing will ever surpass the original 1934 Zombie in terms of complexity.

 

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

I am so pleased because there is finally a great place for Tiki drinks in San Diego (and I am no talking about my house!). Ironside Fish & Oyster opened in April and it checks all the boxes for me. Their food menu, as the names implies, is focused on fresh seafood with anything from shellfish platters to spot prawns and lobster rolls (since it's the drinks forum I won't go into details here). The cocktail menu is extremely ambitious so I had my doubts. It's a large booklet with what looks like about 50 cocktails: sparkling and non-sparkling apéritifs, sherry cobblers, plays on classics, digestifs, and a good tiki selection. Here are a few pages to give you an idea.

 

 

 

And I am very happy to report that the Tiki drinks are awesome. They recipes are spot-on and you can tell that they use excellent ingredients. I imagine that they must pre-batch to some extent because, even though the restaurant was quite busy, the drinks arrived very quickly. They had 5 or 6 bartenders behind the bar so that must have helped too. I just pray that they manage to maintain that level of quality.

 

Here is their signature Mai Tai on the left (Clement VSOP + Hamilton back rum), and Three Dots and a Dash on the right.

 

 

 

Crosswind on the left (not really tiki per se - more like a Last Word with Smith & Cross and falernum), and Fog Cutter on the right.

 

 

Cool tiki mugs, fancy garnishes - it's all there.

I have a feeling I am going to be there quite a bit!

Edited July 11, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[lesliec]

OK, that settles it - I'm coming to visit.  That skull mug for the Fog Cutter is fantastic, and there are a couple of things on the list (Thunder Child, Jack Ketch) that might fit very well into our growing steampunk cocktail list.

 

To return to our scheduled program ... every now and then I just have to break out the tiki mugs and have one of my celebrated (by me) Mai Tais.  I've had a cold this week, so a couple of nights ago was just such an occasion.  I tweaked it a little this time; W&N, Appleton 12, Inner Circle, Curaçao, falernum and orgeat (the last three homemade).  God, that's a nice drink.  Particularly if you're not planning on standing up afterwards.

[mkayahara]

God, that's a nice drink.  Particularly if you're not planning on standing up afterwards.

Come on, man, you didn't test at least three variations of it?

[lesliec]

Call me a wimp, but I just don't have the stamina of another eG member who shall remain nameless (except she liked your post).

 

Anyway, I don't need to play with variations.  Mine's perfect.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Trying to improve a zombie may be grasping at straws (as it were) but tonight I switched my rums around:

 

1 1/2 oz S&C

1 1/2 oz Neisson Reserve Speciale

1 oz Lemon Hart 151

1/2 oz Taylor's Falernum

3/4 oz fresh and inexpensive lime juice

1 teaspoon grenadine

10 ml fresh white grapefruit juice

5 ml tincture of cinnamon

1 dash Angostura

12 drops Jade 1901

 

 

Very happy with this combination.  As best I can recall this is my first zombie that did not use Appleton 12 as the Jamaican rum.   Nice and funky*, rich, and the sweetness is just right.  Sadly kind of sorry looking mint.  Half the bunch rots before, try as I might, I can use it up.  Be assured I shall redouble my efforts.

 

 

*As always, the funkiness is helped along by the solvent for the tincture of cinnamon.

 

 

 

Edit:  I would like to acknowledge that this research was in part made possible by the bottle of Smith & Cross I found in the bedroom.

Edited July 15, 2014 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[Craig E]

OK, that settles it - I'm coming to visit.  That skull mug for the Fog Cutter is fantastic, and there are a couple of things on the list (Thunder Child, Jack Ketch) that might fit very well into our growing steampunk cocktail list.

 

To return to our scheduled program ... every now and then I just have to break out the tiki mugs and have one of my celebrated (by me) Mai Tais.  I've had a cold this week, so a couple of nights ago was just such an occasion.  I tweaked it a little this time; W&N, Appleton 12, Inner Circle, Curaçao, falernum and orgeat (the last three homemade).  God, that's a nice drink.  Particularly if you're not planning on standing up afterwards.

 

Details on the homemade curacao?

[lesliec]

Details on the homemade curacao?

 

Jerry Thomas's recipe.  Go here and scroll down to recipe 188 on page 73 (for some reason searching the book, even for 'Curacoa' as Thomas spells it, is unreliable).

 

If you're in, or visiting, or know somebody from, New Zealand there's a 'commercial' version available from the man who makes Gunpowder Rum.

[Craig E]

Jerry Thomas's recipe.  Go here and scroll down to recipe 188 on page 73 (for some reason searching the book, even for 'Curacoa' as Thomas spells it, is unreliable).

Excellent! Now let's see, where did I leave my carbonate of potash...?

Edited July 15, 2014 by Craig E (log)

[lesliec]

Excellent! Now let's see, where did I leave my carbonate of potash...?

 

I found mine at a brewing supplies shop.  And I found a much larger pot of alum than I'm likely to need at a pharmacist's.

 

The two tricky parts are figuring out what whiskey to base it on, and measuring in drachms.  I've had it made with Ardbeg, but I really wouldn't recommend it.

[Hassouni]

Sadly kind of sorry looking mint.  Half the bunch rots before, try as I might, I can use it up.  

 

Time to get into mojitos and mint juleps?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Believe me, I can stuff an awful lot of mint into a mai tai or zombie.  It's just that it's difficult to have more than a few of these a night:

 

1 1/2 oz Appleton 12

1 1/2 oz Flor de Cana 12

1 oz Lemon Hart 151

1/2 oz Taylor's Falernum

1 1/4 oz fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon grenadine

10 ml fresh white grapefruit juice

5 ml tincture of cinnamon

1 dash Angostura

12 drops Jade 1901

 

 

Flor de Cana is new for me.  I like this a lot, even at low proof.  Though I suspect I would like it even better with a funkier Jamaican than Appleton.

 

But the important thing is I now have several delightful zombie variations.

[FrogPrincesse]

Stephen Remsberg's Planter's Punch from Beachbum Berry Remixed: dark rum (Coruba), lime juice, simple syrup and Angostura bitters. I had tried it previously with Cruzan Black Strap.

 

It's fine but the limitations of this rum are kind of obvious in the drink. It starts pretty big and then you get some burnt caramel notes that I did not find completely pleasant. I think I would enjoy it more in combination with another rum, or maybe I am just getting really picky.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 1/2 oz S&C

1 1/2 oz Flor de Cana 12

1 oz Lemon Hart 151

1/2 oz Taylor's Falernum

3/4 oz fresh lime juice (generous, maybe a scant full ounce...let's call it 25 ml)

1 teaspoon grenadine

10 ml fresh white grapefruit juice

5 ml tincture of cinnamon

1 dash Angostura

12 drops Jade 1901

 

 

New bunch of mint tonight.  As nice as this, I think I slightly prefer Neisson Reserve Speciale to Flor de Cana 12.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I made a batch of Grenadine the other day with POM Wonderful to Morganthaler's recipe, so my Manager and I shared a Zombie

 

1.5 oz Havana 7

1.5 oz Appleton V/X

0.75 oz Skipper

0.75 oz Uncle Wray

0.75 oz Falernum

0.75 oz Grapefruit

1.00 oz Lime

0.50 oz Grenadine

0.25 oz Demerara Syrup

Some Absinthe Bitters (Employees Only, but with Vegetal Elixier, not Green Chartreuse.)

Some Angostura Bitters.

 

I just noticed, that's an awful lot of grapefruit.  Did you use white grapefruit or sweet grapefruit?  I use 10 ml white grapefruit juice in my recipe.  (Though sadly I have only about a dozen white grapefruit left, and the season doesn't start again till next winter.)  As it happens I squeezed an extra 5 ml tonight, and since it doesn't keep, I used the excess as a float.  So far so good.

 

The rums tonight are Neisson Reserve Speciale, Appleton 12, and Lemon Hart 151.  Very nice.

 

My former logic for the times when I expressed a little extra grapefruit was to mix up a second zombie.  Maybe it's old age but I find brain function and two zombies can be mutually exclusive.

[scratchline]

The Sirocco

2 parts Flor de Cana Gran Reserva 7

1 part Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur

1 part fresh lime juice

1 part fresh orange juice

1 part passionfruit syrup

.5 part Campari

 

Shake ingredients with ice and strain over fresh ice in a Hurricane glass, garnish with a cocktail umbrella, and orange slice and an edible orchid.

 

From the Solerno site.  An excellent tiki style cocktail.  Made it with Havana Club 7 and China Martini.  And no orchid.  

 

Maybe a little sweet but other than that, well nigh perfect.

 

-Mike

Edited July 31, 2014 by scratchline (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

When -- through a purple straw -- I sipped tonight's zombie...it didn't taste quite right.  Nor did it take too long to realize I had left out the grenadine!  Either I am incompetent or I just don't drink enough.  I guess I was too concerned with the fruit flies in the lime juice.

 

But this got me to thinking:  in the 1930's, when Don called out for grenadine, exactly what was he specifying?  Real grenadine?  Raspberry syrup?  Colored sugar water?  I was so young and innocent in the first half of the last century.

 

I didn't bother to reshake.  But I stirred in some grenadine and a bit of raspberry syrup, and the drink tastes pretty good. Certainly more than OK.

[Adam George]

I just noticed, that's an awful lot of grapefruit.  Did you use white grapefruit or sweet grapefruit?  I use 10 ml white grapefruit juice in my recipe.  (Though sadly I have only about a dozen white grapefruit left, and the season doesn't start again till next winter.)  As it happens I squeezed an extra 5 ml tonight, and since it doesn't keep, I used the excess as a float.  So far so good.

 

.

That would have been pink grapefruit, and I tend to use a little extra anyway. I don't like it getting lost.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

For pink grapefruit I'd think one would want to use a lot as pink is not strong flavored the way white grapefruit is.  (Note, I am not quite sure how much is "a lot".)

[FrogPrincesse]

Here is the Tiki concoction which concluded for me the celebrations of Tiki Oasis on Sunday. Don the Beachcomber's Cobra Fang (~ 1937) with Lemon Hart 151 as the base, lime juice, orange juice (blood), passion fruit syrup (B.G. Reynolds), falernum, absinthe (St. George), Angostura bitters. Shaken on ice, strained onto fresh crushed ice. I did a spray of absinthe on the finished drink in addition to what was already specified in the recipe.

As a side note, the drinks in the "Fang" family seem to contain passion fruit as a common element.

 

Although it is pretty nice, it would be improved by the use of homemade falernum (I was out). Also I think that I am tiki'd out after 4 days in tiki-land, at least for the time being.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

No photos - a couple of Mai Tais courtesy of Ballast Point last Saturday at Tiki Oasis. Their Mai Tai mix has received some press and a prize at the San Francsico spirits competition. Well, it has a pretty pinkish color and a fresh guava taste, and it yields a nice tropical drink, but not an authentic Mai Tai. It does not have the required acidity and I could hardly detect any orange. They use their Three Sheets rum in a 1:2 ratio (rum to mix).

I should have remembered that I did not care for their gin before ordering a Singapore Sling, but it was too sweet to be palatable in any case.

 

I also had a Mai Tai at Bali Hai at the opening party. These are never very good, although they are quite strong as advertised. Their rum combo is Coruba + Ron Rico Light. They don't measure so there is a huge variation between drinks. A friend got a Zombie that she had to send back. The Goof Punch is usually a safer bet. Sadly they no longer have the Missionary's Downfall on their menu.

 

Bali Hai (see here for more/better photos of the restaurant, which is quite stunning).

 

 

Edited August 20, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

These were pre-TikiO drinks from last week, to get us in the mood.

 

Dolores Park Swizzle in the front (made with La Favorite), and Hart of Darkness in the tiki mugs (1 oz each Lemon Hart 151 and El Dorado 5, Australian costal honey, skipped the soda water). Two diametrically opposite drinks (on purpose). The first one fresh and grassy, the second deep and almost tannic, both with lots of intriguing flavors.