The Tiki Drink Discussion Topic

[Hassouni]

Would that it were still warm enough for things like crushed ice and falernum...

[FrogPrincesse]

Well, it's a perfect 75F in San Diego today... Great after a very warm weekend in Palm Springs (100F) where Tiki drinks were definitely de rigueur!

[Rafa]

It's sweater weather here and damned if I'll let the heat index keep me from my crushed ice drinks.

[lesliec]

Well said, sir.

 

I don't subscribe to the climatic theory of cocktails.  If a Mai Tai, say, is good on the deck in the middle of summer it's just as good by the fire in the middle of winter.  Effectively, the air around you is the same temperature either way.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I say it depends on the temperature of the air inside you.  I'm wearing flannel but that does not keep me from falernum.  (In fact I got all toasty warm digging around till I found a fresh bottle.)  Besides, it is supposed to be warm here tomorrow.

 

For my voyager I took the recipe from KC and just scaled it up a bit.  Very nice.  I like the spice, although my preference would be for a tad less sweetness.  For rum I employed Flor de Cana 12.

 

The drink reminds me of something one might have before a zombie.

[FrogPrincesse]

Breakfast for dinner and an Eastern Sour (Trader Vic) on Saturday night. Buffalo Trace bourbon, orange & lemon juice, homemade coconut orgeat, simple syrup. A great brunch drink.

 

 

 

Last night I wanted something with more spice. Being out of cinnamon syrup stumped me for a while. Then it occurred to me I could make a Three Dots and Dash (Donn Beach). I used La Favorite rhum vieux (coeur de rhum), El Dorado 5 demerara rum, lime & orange juice, homemade falernum, allspice dram, honey syrup, angostura bitters.

 

 

 

 

[Hassouni]

I'll have to try the ... -!

Edited October 28, 2014 by Hassouni (log)

[Rafa]

It took me a bit to realize you weren't just too drunk to type properly, Chris. 

[FrogPrincesse]

The ...- is one of my favorite tiki drinks. The only reason I don't make it more often is that it calls for 1.5 oz of aged rhum agricole, and I have a hard time seeing my hard-to-replace inventory go down (I just realized that Hi Time no longer had it listed online, and I'm already feeling a panic attack).

[KD1191]

I'll have to try the ... -!

 

Please report back! It's my favorite at the bar of the same name.

[FrogPrincesse]

Please report back! It's my favorite at the bar of the same name.

Do you know what brands of rums they use? Very curious.

[Rafa]

via PUNCH:

1 ounce rhum agricole (preferably Duquesne Agricole Eleve Sous Bois)

1 ounce rum, Guyanese (preferably El Dorado 5 Year)

1/2 ounce dry curaçao

1/2 ounce falernum

1/4 ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

1 ounce lime juice

1/2 ounce honey syrup (2:1, honey:water)

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Edited October 28, 2014 by Rafa (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Thanks Rafa! I haven't tried the Duquesne.

Curacao instead of orange juice? Interesting.

[tanstaafl2]

Thanks Rafa! I haven't tried the Duquesne.

Curacao instead of orange juice? Interesting.

 

Egads!!! Despite what the recipes may say and perhaps even the bum himself (don't have his book handy) this is much better with curacao (Ferrand is lovely) than with OJ, as is the case with many cocktails. Clement Creole Shrubb is another option that has worked well.

 

And while ED5 is nice the newer ED8 is even better! And I wouldn't hesitate to use ED12 in a pinch. As to the agricole sometimes you just have to use the good stuff to make the best cocktails. And being in San Diego, unlike the damned puritan controls that #%&@ up liquor shipping in Georgia, presumably all the stores in Cali will ship to you if you get desperate for a source for more aged agricole, right?

[FrogPrincesse]

Egads!!! Despite what the recipes may say and perhaps even the bum himself (don't have his book handy) this is much better with curacao (Ferrand is lovely) than with OJ, as is the case with many cocktails. Clement Creole Shrubb is another option that has worked well.

 

And while ED5 is nice the newer ED8 is even better! And I wouldn't hesitate to use ED12 in a pinch. As to the agricole sometimes you just have to use the good stuff to make the best cocktails. And being in San Diego, unlike the damned puritan controls that #%&@ up liquor shipping in Georgia, presumably all the stores in Cali will ship to you if you get desperate for a source for more aged agricole, right?

 

Oh come on. The Beachbum version with (0.5 oz) OJ is plenty delightful already. Mr Rumdood and my local source of tiki drinks concur on this. We need a touch of juice in our tiki drinks, not just all booze!  I will try the curacao version too for research purposes, of course.

 

Regarding ED5 vs. ED8, I have both (also have ED12) and opted for ED5 for contrast. My scientific method goes as follows: mix all the other ingredients, perform a thorough sniff test, and decide what other rum to use. ED5 was the brightest against La Favorite vieux. I find that ED12 tends to get lost in cocktails so I don't mix with it much, but I've been happy with ED8 .

[tanstaafl2]

Oh come on. The Beachbum version with (0.5 oz) OJ is plenty delightful already. Mr Rumdood and my local source of tiki drinks concur on this. We need a touch of juice in our tiki drinks, not just all booze!  I will try the curacao version too for research purposes, of course.

 

Well OK, it will do in a pinch!

 

[FrogPrincesse]

I found an article on the same topic in Conde Nast Traveler with this quote from Paul McGee.

 

 

The version that we serve here is tweaked slightly from its original form: Beachcomber’s recipe called for orange juice, which I really don’t care for in cocktails, so I use dry orange curaçao and a little extra lime juice. The addition of curaçao makes for a boozier version of this drink, and spirit-forward cocktails are something I usually lean towards.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It had been sometime since I had had a zombie.  Tonight I sacrificed the very last white grapefruit from last winter...not knowing quite what I should find.  No mold, very pleasant juice, about an ounce.  I knew the juice was "use it or lose it," so in I dumped it all -- not wishing, of course, to end a sentence with a preposition:

 

1 oz S&C

1 oz Appleton 12

1 oz Flor de Cana 12

1 oz Lemon Hart 151

1/2 oz Taylor's Falernum

1 1/4 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz freshly squeezed, though not necessarily fresh, white grapefruit juice

5 ml tincture of cinnamon

1 teaspoon grenadine

1 dash Angostura

12 drops Jade 1901

 

 

Garnish of mint with purple straw.  I should note I am fond of citrus and this really works for me.

[FrogPrincesse]

From last night - Ancient Mariner (Jeff Berry) with Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, El Dorado 5 Demerara rum, St Elizabeth allspice dram, white grapefruit & lime juice, simple syrup. Spicy and warming.

 

 

 

[Hassouni]

From last night - Ancient Mariner (Jeff Berry) with Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, El Dorado 5 Demerara rum, St Elizabeth allspice dram, white grapefruit & lime juice, simple syrup. Spicy and warming.

 

 

 

Why don't I make more of these...

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Why don't I make more of these...

 

Well, in my case I am out of white grapefruit.  However, speaking soberly, while the ancient mariner is in no way a bad drink, it is totally inferior to a zombie.

[Hassouni]

Death & Co favors pink grapefruit, for what that's worth. I pretty much never see white ones around here anyway.

[FrogPrincesse]

Last night's Three Dots and a Dash with Clement VSOP, El Dorado 8, orange & lime, homemade falernum, allspice dram, honey syrup, Angostura bitters.

I forgot to try the McGee version so I will have to make another one again soon.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My usual beverages are mai tai's.  (Not that this should be news to much of anyone.)  There are many other drinks I like, but when one can have a mai tai, why bother?  Indeed tonight's research is comparing Pusser's vs Lost Spirits navy style...though I'm not sure comparing mai tais sequentially is statistically correct.

 

Anyhow there is one other beverage I occasionally crave:  namely a zombie.  The problem is I have no white grapefruit.  Is there any substitution in the zombie for grapefruit?  I suppose I should just break down and order some.  Though I know from sad experience that unless I really, really apply myself some of the grapefruit are bound to rot.

 

Anyhow, as the result of my experiment, Pusser's now tastes too sweet following Lost Spirits.  At least until I try to stand up.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This is too sweet.  I'm pretty sure I measured accurately.  But something is off.  Tonight's first mai tai using Lost Spirits was really good.  Recipe:

 

1 oz Neisson Reserve Speciale

1 oz S&C

1 oz Lost Spirits Navy Style

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

1/2 oz orgeat

1 oz lime (generous)

 

 

Purple straw in both cases.  For some reason I can't drink the Pusser's version.  What have I done wrong??  I should add I am fond of Pusser's.  Not to excess, of course.