Bit late to the party on this one but I thought I'd share a few delightful libations from this fantastic book. Also made a Zombie having been previously disappointed with it in the past, and sadly am still so, which I think definitively tells me the drink is not for me.
All the below were fantastic and I will be making them again!
Don's Own Grogg
Three Dots and a Dash
Tradewinds
Mai Tai - I cheated a bit here as the recipe calls for a vanilla infused demerara syrup they call 'mai tai rich simple syrup. I instead used regular demerara syrup
infusing it with a drop of vanilla essence. The resulting drink was still utterly divine; again I was wary of mai tai's from previous versions I've made but this just
goes to show how good it can be made right!
I really went overboard on the drinks mixer and picked a commercial grade monstrosity. On the plus side, it makes the whole process quick and fun, and it also makes a fantastic malt shake!
One thing I'm really struggling with are some of the rum choices in certain categories. I'm hitting a real brick wall with the aged column still rums. I had previously got on well with a bottle of Bacardi 8 but find the rum in the newer bottle to be a bit lacklustre compared to the older bottling. I was thinking of trying Flor de Cana 7 year and notice it's completely missing (only the 12 features), wondering if there's any reason for this; is it a bad rum?
I also think there's a bit of a grey area in the categorisation that sites between categories 2 and 3. I'm going to stick with a dedicated white as my lightly aged and having been disappointed by the Diplomatico Blanco I'll be returning to Plantation 3 stars which is excellent. I believe, for the purpose of branching out into other recipes outside of Tiki and this book, there are a few rums that are veritable 'switch-hitters' that can work in both categories as there is a huge expanse in category 3 (aged blended) going up to 12 year old offerings. To that end I think Plantation 5yo Barbados, Mount Gay Black Barrel or Chairman's Reserve might be versatile mid-category rums which could also serve as 'golden rums' where recipes generically call for it. That is unless I should be looking for a gold rum in the Puerto Rican style like Bacardi Carta Oro or Flor de Cana 4/5 year, which is missing from the book entirely?
