Sunday, September 16, 2012

Mixology Monday LXV: Equal Parts

Mixology Monday is back! Paul Clarke of The Cocktail Chronicles has, after a long and fruitful tenure, passed the reins to Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin Slut. I'm extremely pleased that this tradition will continue. And for the inaugural event, hosted by Fred, is Equal Parts.

For this month, I have chosen the theme of equal part cocktails — those simple drinks where only one jigger is needed despite how many ingredients are added. These recipes have gained a lot of popularity as classics like the Negroni and Last Word have resurfaced, and variations of these equal part wonders have become abundant.

While it was tempting to dip into the world of classic cocktails for this one, I decided to mine the rich vein of tiki drinks. Thinking about going all-out, I was tempted by the Aku Aku Lapu. However, as I'm about to go on vacation, I didn't want to juice a pineapple and waste the unused juice. So I settled for a simpler drink.

Shrunken Skull
1 oz Demerara rum
1 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
1 oz lime juice
1 oz grenadine

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, and pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass (or better, a Shrunken Skull mug).

The nose is dominated by the sharp scent of lime. The sip begins with mild sweetness and a hint of raspberry, which is quickly joined by a bit of lime. The rums join the mix and blend in pleasantly as the drink approaches the back of the mouth, while the raspberry fruitiness gains a bit of power. Overall, the drink has good balance, despite all of the ingredients bringing a lot of power to the table.

Since I don't have any grenadine on hand right now, I used homemade raspberry syrup instead. It has a more aggressive flavor, but was actually pretty welcome here to keep the lime juice in check. I was a little surprised by how much the rums got swamped and it's a good things I used El Dorado 12 and Flor de Caña 7 here as I think anything with less heft would have gotten completely lost.

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