New Cocktails: Rhum Agricole Punch

 I was poking through my old cocktail recipe bookmarks when I stumbled upon this gem from roughly a decade ago, courtesy of the long defunct Antifogmatic League, who got it from the also defunct Heaven's Dog bar in SF. Thankfully one of the bartenders had chimed in in the comments to note that the proportions were almost exactly correct, so off we go.

Rhum Agricole Punch

2 oz rhum agricole

1 oz lime juice

0.5 oz cane syrup

0.25 oz allspice dram

1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then strain into a glass with fresh ice and grate nutmeg on top.

The aromas are dominated by the nutmeg, with a bit of allspice and lime peeking through. The sip begins with spicy sweetness, passes through bright lime, then fades through grassy rhum into a dry woody finish. The finish has long bittersweet lime with a touch of woody spice from the Angostura and allspice.

This take on the Lion's Tail/Jasper's Jamaican formula works really well. It has enough complex to keep it from being boring, but it can also just be a pleasant long drink to sip on a warm day.

The character will depend a lot on your choice of rhum. Since I didn't have any higher proof aged rhum open at the moment, I had to go with the mellower and lower proof Rhum J.M. V.O. This produces a subtle drink where it slides in between the other components rather than putting itself front and center. A heftier 100-proof agricole will obviously give you a bigger, bolder drink, so pick your poison. Either choice is going to be good.

New Cocktails: the Coronado Rhum Cocktail

Imbibe posted a list of cocktails using passion fruit last summer, which was a good excuse to get new bottles of BG Reynolds passion fruit syrup. A number of these require adaptation because they call for passion fruit juice or purée, but most are amenable with a little tweaking.

In this case my partner ended up substituting rhum agricole for the tequila called for in the original because she's not fond of agave spirits.

Coronado Rhum Cocktail
1.5 oz rhum agricole
1 oz Aperol
2 oz coconut water
1 oz passion fruit syrup
0.25 oz lemon juice

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice for six seconds, then pour unstrained into a tall glass.

The aromas are almost completely suppressed by the ice. The sip opens with moderate sweetness from the rum and syrups, transitioning through Aperol fruit with some light coconut in the middle, then becoming mildly bitter with a touch of lemon at the back. The finish has balanced character from all of the components.

This is exactly what you want from a tiki drink, but with the added twist of a little bitterness from the Aperol. I was surprised that substituting passion fruit syrup for juice didn't make it overly sweet, though it probably has a thicker body than it would have otherwise. Overall I think it would make a solid base for further experimentation with the amaro to push it in different directions. Something like Ramazzotti or Bruto Americano could push it in a more herbal direction alongside an aged agricole, while something lighter such as Cocchi Americano could fit well with a blanc.

New Tiki Cocktails: the Mai Tai Vallet

While the Mai Tai has always been one of the classic tiki drinks for highlighting what rum can do, more recent years have seen the development of cocktails that take its basic mold and twist it in a bitter direction. Most well-known include the Campari-based Bitter Mai Tai and the Angostura bitters-based Stormy Mai Tai.

I based this on the structure of the Bitter Mai Tai and was inspired by the Angostura bitters of the Stormy Mai Tai to remake it with Amargo Vallet, a Mexican bitter liqueur that, unlike Angostura bitters, actually includes angostura bark in its ingredients. It has a very strong and somewhat peculiar flavor that is unlike any other amaro I've tried before, so I wasn't sure how well it would play with the more tropical flavors of the Mai Tai, but I'm pleased with how this turned out.

The Mai Tai Vallet
1.25 oz Amargo Vallet
0.75 oz Jamaican rum
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orange liqueur
0.5 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

The nose is dominated by the rum's esters, with the amaro peeking around the edges. The sip begins with sweet rum esters, turns bittersweet with a balance between the rum, orange liqueur, and orgeat, there's a bump of cherry cough syrup in the middle, with the more bitter/herbal notes of the Amargo building towards the back, and a cola/orange note going into the long, bittersweet finish. All through the lime keeps it from getting too sweet and adds a little extra bitterness from the oils in the peel.

Despite the strong old time-y cough syrup vibe, this actually works. While less approachable than the Bitter or Stormy Mai Tais, Amargo Vallet isn't totally out of place amidst the tropical ingredients. The critical part is that the segues happen in an appropriate sequence, shifting the balance of the cocktail from front to back in a relatively smooth fashion as opposed to the jarring transitions that happen when ingredients don't mesh with each other. Speaking of ingredients, Denizen 8 was a good pick here because it gives a solid layer of ester funk without overwhelming the flavors like Smith & Cross would.

While I can't see this ever catching on, it is something that I would happily make again.

Mixology Monday LXXXIV: Temperance

This month's Mixology Monday theme is a bit counter-intuitive: temperance. While the event has historically been all about the booze, this time we were challenged by Scott of Shake, Strain & Sip to come up with non-alcoholic drinks.

While many of us today think of overly sweet and unimaginative uses of fruit juice combinations when we hear of nonalcoholic beverages, there is a growing resurgence and movement of creating real craft “mocktails” in cocktail bars around the world.  With there being more exotic and unique ingredients available to us then ever before, there are an abundance of innovative spiritless libations being developed today.  Believe it or not, there’s actually a company that produces non-alcoholic versions of rum, vodka, brandy, and a number of other faux spirits and liqueurs.

As such, this month’s theme challenges you to create unique craft “mocktails” only limited by your imagination.  Perhaps you have an abundance of that homemade lavender syrup sitting in your fridge?  Maybe you’ve been thinking about creating a non-alcoholic version of your favorite cocktail.  Or maybe you just wanted an excuse to mix up an Angostura Phosphate you saw in Imbibe.  Oh yes, non-potable bitters are fair game here since they are legally classified as nonalcoholic in the states.  However, if the Teetotalist inside of you won’t allow it, you can go without them.  Cheers!

I've been enjoying Jeffery Morgenthaler's tonic recipe for a few months now. It's a great choice when I want something non-alcoholic that's still full of flavor. So I decided to see if I could tiki-fi it a bit.

Tiki Tonik
1 oz tonic syrup
0.25 oz BG Reynolds passion fruit syrup
0.25 oz lime juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Trader Tiki's falernum bitters

Build over ice and top with 2-3 oz of soda water. Garnish with the spent lime shell - optionally add a lump of sugar and some high-proof spirit and light (carefully) for some extra tiki flair.

In a sense, the tonic water that this is derived from is already pretty tiki - with orange, lemon, and lime plus allspice berries and lemongrass. The passion fruit syrup and bitters help to push it further down the path, adding more layers of fruit and spice to the mix.

This would be a good one to play with if you have other options around - guava or grapefruit would both work beautifully. Actual passion fruit juice rather than syrup would also be a great pick. No matter how you end up making it, it's a nice way to have a tiki-style drink that won't knock you on your back.

Thanks to Scott and Fred for another great MxMo.

Mixology Monday LXXI - From Crass to Craft

It's that time of the month again - Mixology Monday has rolled around. This month's event, hosted by Scott Diaz of Shake, Strain & Sip, is Crass to Craft. To summarize -

"The evolution of the cocktail has been a wondrous, and sometimes, frightful journey… But with all this focus on “craft” ingredients and classic tools & form, it seems we have become somewhat pretentious. The focus on bitter Italian amari, revived and lost ingredients such as Batavia Arrack or Crème de Violette, the snickering at a guest ordering a Cosmopolitan or a Midori Sour has propelled us into the dark realm of snobbery… Remember, the bar was created with pleasing one particular group in mind: the guest. As such, this month’s MxMo theme… will focus on concocting a craft cocktail worthy of not only MxMo but any trendy bar, using dubious and otherwise shunned ingredients to sprout forth a craft cocktail that no one could deny is anything less. There are a plethora of spirits, liqueurs, and non-alcoholic libations that are just waiting for someone to showcase that they too are worthy of being featured on our home and bar shelves. So grab that bottle of flavored vodka, Jägermeister, cranberry juice, soda, neon-colored liqueur, sour mix, or anything else deemed unworthy of a craft cocktail, and get mixin’!"

Thinking about what's been languishing in my booze collection, I pawed some spirits out of the way to find two bottles of amaretto hiding at the back of one shelf. While little used now, amaretto was my unglamorous introduction to mixology. Near the end of college I loved Amaretto Stone Sours - 1:2:2 amaretto, orange juice, and neon yellow sour mix. Even with bottom shelf amaretto (seriously, I think the bottle cost $5), the sheer artificiality of the combination somehow just came together perfectly. 

But those days passed and the amaretto wasted away, rarely to see the light of day. Trying to think about what to do with it, I remembered Jeffrey Morgenthaler's post extolling the virtues of his Amaretto Sours. While I'm a bit low on cask-strength bourbon, I do have a lot of high proof rum. So I decided to take it in a slightly tiki direction.

Amaretto Spiced Sour

1.5 oz amaretto

0.75 oz high-proof Jamaican rum

1 oz lemon juice

1 tsp falernum

0.5 oz egg white

Combine all ingredients, dry shake, then shake with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a long strip of lemon peel and a few drops of Angostura bitters

The nose holds just a bit of funk from the rum and some woody/spicy notes from the bitters on top of the foam. The sip begins in a balanced fashion, perched between sweet and sour, slowly segueing through almond notes from the amaretto, Jamaican rum funk, eggy creaminess, and finishing with very mild bitterness.

While retaining the basic structure and character of the Amaretto Sour, I think this version manages to make things just a bit more interesting. The rum, bitters, and falernum are present without overwhelming the amaretto and lemon juice. The egg white acts as a good integrator, smoothing over the cracks between the other flavors. If you're sensitive to egg flavors or just feel weird about raw egg whites, you could back off a bit an use a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon, or even just omit that entirely. Either way, it's a hell of a drink.

Thanks again to Shake, Strain & Sip for hosting this month's MxMo. I look forward to seeing what other drinks people have hauled up from the depth of the bottom shelf.

New Tiki Cocktails: The Clermeil

This is another cocktail from Imbibe's rum feature in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue. The drink was invented by Maksym Pazuniak of Cure in New Orleans, who named it after the Haitain Vodou loa who makes rivers overflow their banks.

For a slightly different take on this drink, you should check out Cocktail Virgin.

The Clermeil
1.5 oz aged rum
0.75 oz green Chartreuse
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz maple syrup
0.75 tsp allspice dram

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is dominated by the Chartreuse, which gives is a rather savory aspect, with an undercurrent of rum and maple syrup. The sip begins lightly, with sweetness, lime, and herbal notes growing stronger mid-palate, then slowly fading out with a bit of spice from the allspice dram. The rum plays more of a supporting role, giving the flavors a certain roundness.

I made the drink with the last of my bottle of Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva. While an excellent choice in many applications, it felt overwhelmed by the green Chartreuse. As Fred noted, even El Dorado 12 Year can get beat out by the herbal liqueur, so maybe only something like a Jamaican rum would really be able to hold its own. Another alternative would be switching to the lighter and sweeter yellow Chartreuse and easing back a bit on the maple syrup. That could let the rum shine a bit more. Either way, this is a very nice tiki-ish take on the Last Word format.

New Tiki Classic: the Bitter Mai-Tai

This is, as Tiare puts it, potentially a gross abomination: a mai-tai whose main constituent is Italian amaro rather than rum.

This drink comes from the wild mind of Jeremy Oertel of Dram in Brooklyn. It was featured in Imbibe's article about tiki drinks from a few years back, which is how I found out about it while flipping through back issues yesterday looking for Tiki Month fodder.

Bitter Mai-Tai
1.5 oz Campari
0.75 oz Jamaican rum
1 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orange liqueur
0.75 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then either pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass or strain into a rocks glass full of crushed ice.

The nose is light, with hints of the Jamaican rum's dunder funk and the bright bitter notes of Campari, with just a bit of nuttiness from the orgeat and sourness from the lime. The sip begins smoothly and sweetly, with a mixture of orange liqueur and orgeat. As it moves back, Jamaican rum and Campari hit with a one-two punch, fading out with bitter/sweet/sour notes of lime and Campari.

Kind of like the Stormy Mai-Tai, it, just doesn't look like it's going to work. While wacky on its face, this drink comes together beautifully. It's possible that it would have been too sweet if I hadn't gone for a big Jamaican rum like Smith & Cross. But the rum needs to be bold to punch through all of the other strong flavors in the drink. If you want to take it in a darker direction, Coruba and a dash of Angostura bitters might not be a bad tack to take. However, I think it's going to be delicious no matter how you choose to make it.

New Cocktails: Suit, Tie, and Lei

In case you're not already in the know, it's Tiki Month over at the Pegu Blog. While not your normal kind of tiki, this variation on the Kingston Negroni supplements it with a very tropical combination of ingredients like falernum, Don's Spices, and Angostura bitters. A dressed up tiki, if you will.

Suit, Tie, and Lei
1.5 oz aged rum
0.5 oz sweet vermouth
0.25 oz Aperol
1 tsp dark falernum
1 tsp Don's Spices #2
2 dashes Angostura bitters

The nose is full of spice and bitterness, rounded by healthy doses of vanilla and caramel. The sip begins smoothly, with sweetness and bitter spices growing in tandem, riding over a bed of rum. The bitter notes finally begin to dominate on the finish, with the Angostura bitters and falernum getting the upper hand.

Tiki Classics: Paradise Cooler

This drink comes from the Denver Hilton, circa 1960, via Beachbum Berry Remixed.

Paradise Cooler
1 oz light rum
1 oz orange juice
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz falernum
0.25 oz cherry Herring

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass with more crushed ice.

The nose is dominated by the falernum's spice notes. The sip opens with sharp citrus acidity and vanilla from the rum, which segues into the ginger spice of the falernum, inflected by dark fruit from the Heering.

This drinks verges towards the dreaded 'muddled flavor profile' that late-stage tiki drinks often fell prey to. However, there is a distinct evolution of flavors, which keeps it from falling apart. I would suggest using falernum syrup in this one rather than falernum liqueur, because the stronger ginger note from the alcoholic version tends to overwhelm the other components.

Rhum Agricole Review: Saint James Royal Ambré

Continuing my rhum agricole kick, this is the first of two reviews I'm going to be doing of aged rhums from the Saint James distillery on the French island of Martinique.

Saint James is the oldest distillery on the island in continuous operation. While rhum production goes back even further, the brand came out of a decision by Louis XV in 1763 to allow rhum from the island to be exported. The Saint James brand was established in 1765 near the town of Saint Pierre, with the name designed to appeal to English-speaking colonists in New England. Saint James is also distinguished by having put out the first vintage rhum on the island in 1885, which has continued ever since. Disaster struck in 1902 when Mount Pelée erupted, destroying Saint Pierre and most of the distillery's building. However, the main house largely survived. The distillery was consolidated on the other side of the island in the town of Saint Marie in 1974, where production has been located ever since.

The sugar cane harvest for Saint James begins in February and extends into summer. The cut cane is transported to the distillery as quickly as possible, where it is pressed in mills to extract the juice. The juice, or 'vessou', ferments naturally due to the yeast present in the cane. Fermentation is kept between 25-30º C and is fairly quick, taking only a day or two. The mash is at 4-5% alcohol when it is added to the column stills, which give a raw spirit of 65-74% alcohol. The fresh rhum is then either rested in steel vats for a few months to produce blanc rhum or aged in oak barrels to produce everything from their paille rhum to rhum vieux. Saint James has a fairly high angels share of 8% a year, which goes a long way towards explaining their prices.

Saint James Royal Ambré

Nose: oak, sweet berries, vanilla, slightly floral, strong grassy/cane note, somewhat harsh musty funk notes. After adding a few drops of water, the nose becomes a bit flatter, and while the grassy notes dominate at first, it eventually reveals creamy berries and very strong floral perfume notes.

Taste: dry cane up front, which becomes a bit sweeter and creamier mid-palate, a huge blast of pepper, a bit of oak and dry cacao near the back, which all smoothes out with time. After dilution, it becomes thinner, but sweeter and creamier, with lighter pepper and the addition of nutmeg and more cacao.

Finish: oak, vegetal, residual pepper heat, slightly bitter. After dilution it becomes raspberries, pepper, nutmeg, dry cacao/coffee.

This was the first rhum agricole I ever bought, largely because it was the only one available in Oregon at the time. My first taste was... not good... as the strong and somewhat harsh flavors were just too much for me to handle. So it got relegated to the back of my liquor stash. I've slowly worked through the bottle, with an experiment here and there, but now that I have a better appreciation for rhums, I've returned to find it a rather tasty dram.

Saint James Royal Ambré holds a position between the lightly aged Élevé Sous Bois and Paille rhums from various distilleries, which tend to be aged for about twelve months, and the VSOP and Vieux rhums, which tend to be aged for four to five years. Royal Ambré is aged for eighteen to twenty-four months, which is long enough to add quite a bit of oak-derived flavors while leaving the grassy, funky vegetal flavors of raw cane undimmed. The rhum is bottled at a very reasonable 45%, which gives it heft without making it quite as strong and ethereal as its 50% ABV brethren. Most notably, Royal Ambré is the only AOC rhum agricole I've seen in the States going for under $25 for a 750 mL bottle, which makes it an exceptionally good value. The closest I can find in the same range would be La Favorite Ambre, but it's a bit more expensive, younger, and requires committing to an entire liter bottle. If you're looking for a rhum, especially for making tiki drinks, Saint James is a pretty easy choice.

Hale Pele Mai Tai
1 oz Smith & Cross Jamaican rum
1 oz Saint James Royal Ambré
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 orange liqueur
0.5 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, then pour unstrained into a double rocks glass. Fill with crushed ice and add a sprig of mint for garnish.

The mint garnish dominates the nose, though some funk from the Jamaican rum also makes itself known. The sip begins with moderate orgeat and orange liqueur sweetness. But soon enough its time for the funk, with the Jamaican rum and rhum agricole tag teaming your taste buds. With time, the mint begins to infuse the drink, coming in around mid-palate, adding its herbal notes to the funky r(h)um esters.

This mai tai is a kick in the face - but in a good way. It is almost exactly the mai tai you'll get from Blair Reynolds' new tiki bar, Hale Pele. I tried one back on opening night and found it brash but delicious. While Smith & Cross is likely to be more attention-grabbing, the Saint James rhum is almost as important. I feel like it's the only rhum that's bold enough to stand up to all that unadulterated Jamaican funk. However, adding a little bit of extra orgeat seems to be important to both mellow and integrate the rough 'n ready flavors of r(h)ums, transforming them into something absolutely exquisite. This is stiff competition for the best mai tai I've ever had.

Rum Review: Mt. Gay Eclipse Dark

Mount Gay is the oldest extant rum distillery in the world - documentation goes back to 1703, though it is likely that distillation on the site started even earlier. The distillery uses both copper pot stills and modern column stills. All of their rums are aged in ex-bourbon barrels, without any extra finishes. The distillery puts out a range of expressions from Eclipse Silver all the way up to the very old 1703 expression, but in this series of reviews I'll be looking at the core of their range.

Mt. Gay Eclipse

Nose: fruity - berries, banana, pineapple, thin molasses, a hint of vanilla and raw alcohol. After dilution, the sweetness shifts towards honey and the fruits retreat.

Taste: molasses throughout, fruity esters, ripe berries, mango, pineapple, banana, pepper, mild bitter oak into the finish. After dilution it becomes less fruity, with some added vanilla and a creamier feel.

Finish: bitter oak, molasses, pineapple

Mt. Gay Eclipse was created in 1910 to commemorate a solar eclipse that occurred that year. The rum is aged for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years before being blended and bottled. It doesn't have nearly the same body or heft as Mt. Gay's older rums, but it makes up for that with freshness and an abundance of fruit flavors. This makes it, in my mind, a very good answer to the question "what is one rum I should buy for my home bar?". It works especially well in tropical drinks, where its inherent fruity flavors should compliment the other ingredients. Speaking of which...

Sleepy Floyd

2 oz Mt. Gay Eclipse rum

0.75 oz dry vermouth

0.75 oz lime juice

0.35 oz passion fruit syrup

0.35 oz falernum

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then garnish with a large strip of orange peel.

The nose is dominated by the orange peel, but passion fruit, rum, and the vermouth's aromatics peek out as well. The sip begins with subdued sweetness and lots of fruit, segueing into falernum spices, which is the joined by the vermouth to give lightly bitter finish of ginger, rum, and vermouth.

This is my take on the Silky Johnson from Nights and Weekends in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I did a lot of subbing, but I'm pretty pleased with the result. While I'm not sure how Dolin Dry compares to Cocchi Americano, I feel like it did a good job of tweaking the usual rum/fruit/sweet formula. I renamed it after one of the characters in the Portland hip-hop group Lifesaveas' Gutterfly album, to keep the feel of the original.

Stay tuned for upcoming reviews of Mt. Gay Sugar Cane Rum and Extra Old.

New Cocktail: Ming the Merciless

This cocktail is an adaptation of the Fu Manchu from Beachbum Berry Remixed. While the original called for crème de menthe, I neither own any nor have any desire to purchase any. So I decided to sub in Green Chartreuse instead. In keeping with the theme, I named the drink after one of Flash Gordon's main enemies, who was modeled on Fu Manchu.

The story of the original drink is that Sax Rohmer, the author of the books featuring Fu Manchu, had a strong fondness for Meyers rum. Before lunch one day he decided that his main villain needed a drink and that it should be green. They finally settled on a drink with both lime and crème de menthe, that had the requisite hue. However, this took quite a bit of experimentation: "At the fourteenth attempt they did eventually get it right, but none of them wanted much lunch afterwards." However, that recipe was lost, so Jeff settled on a version from 1947.

Ming the Merciless

1 oz light Demerara rum
0.5 oz lime juice
1 tsp Green Chartreuse
1 tsp simple syrup
2 tsp orange liqueur

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, and pour unstrained into a chilled glass.

The nose is dominated by the Chartreuse, with dry fennel and licorice rising from the glass. The sip opens with the rum's strong vanilla notes overlaid with with the herbal fennel from the Chartreuse. The drink is just barely sweet, with the lime juice counterbalancing the liqueurs. The orange liqueur tends to hide itself, but helps to round out the drink.

This drink will work best with El Dorado 3 Year white rum, as I find its flavors to be more savory than sweet, which works well with the Green Chartreuse. Overall it's a nice drink that bridges tiki and classic-style cocktails.

New Cocktail: After the Storm

Another cocktail made to finish off my bottle of Cockspur rum. If you're looking for an all-arounder rum in your drinks cabinet, Cockspur is a very good choice. Mild and with lots of vanilla, it ingratiates itself into almost any drink you use it with.

Turning things around, I went for something akin to a Port Light.

After the Storm
2 oz Barbados rum
0.75 oz lime juice
0.25 oz passionfruit syrup
0.25 oz raspberry syrup
0.25 oz vanilla syrup

Combine all ingredients, add a large handful of crushed ice, blend for five seconds, then pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass.

This drink rides the edge between sweet and sour, with an almost slushy texture due to the blended ice. The rum and vanilla manage to punch their way through all of the ice on the nose. The sip begins with rum, then there is a burst of sour lime, passion fruit, and raspberry. The drink finishes on a smooth bed of vanilla, with just a bit of lingering sourness.

Overall a very pleasant drink and a nice send-off to one of the first bottles of rum I ever bought.

New Cocktail: the Hillaby Cocktail

This came out of a simple desire to finish off a bottle of rum. There are a number of bottles that are getting low and they currently stand between me and feeling justified in opening some new ones. As I wanted something on the stiff side, this was the result, named after the highest point on the island of Barbados.

Hillaby Cocktail
1 oz Barbados rum
0.25 oz mango tincture
0.25 oz orange tincture
0.25 oz palm sugar syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for 15 seconds, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The nose is rich, reminiscent of an orange creamsicle, with the addition of spices and strong palm sugar funk. The sip is initially thin, but then becomes stronger with rum and bitters, which are then joined by the fruit notes of orange and mango.

While a bit on the simple side, this was a tasty and solid drink. The tinctures add fruit flavors without any sweetness or sourness as you would get with fruit juices. The rum and palm sugar also worked well together. Around everything, the bitters kept the sweetness in check and tied the drink together.

Tiki Classics: Port Light

The Port Light is one of the few tiki drinks made with bourbon rather than rum. It was developed by Sandro Conti for the Kahiki in Columbus, Ohio in the early 1960s. The Kahiki was one of the last major tiki temples, a multi-building complex topped with a three-story tall fireplace in the shape of a moai.

Port Light
1.5 oz bourbon
1 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz passionfruit syrup (B.G. Reynolds)
0.25 oz grenadine (or raspberry syrup)

Combine all ingredients with a handful of crushed ice, blend for 5 seconds, then pour unstrained into a chilled rocks glass with more crushed ice.

The nose is relatively weak, but the bourbon manages to assert itself through all the ice. The sip opens with bourbon barrel notes, which transition into a fruity melange of passionfruit and raspberry, which continue through to the finish while a bit of lemon bite pokes out.

With the right amount of crushed ice, this is basically a bourbon/fruit slushy. What's not to love? The passionfruit/raspberry syrup combo works really well keeping the drink from becoming insipid, with just about everything providing some snap. Overall a very tasty drink and a good way to ease whiskey-drinking friends into the world of tiki.

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.

New Cocktails: Heart of the Palm

I'm striving to run down my liquor cabinet this weekend. A lot of what's getting low is bourbon, so I decided to make an Old Fashioned. Just to change things up a bit, I went for more of a tropical-style drink, with a number of different syrups accenting the whiskey.

Heart of the Palm
1.5 oz bourbon
0.5 tsp dark falernum
0.5 tsp palm sugar syrup
1 tsp B.G. Reynold's passionfruit syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients, stir with ice for 15 seconds, and strain into an old fashioned glass.

The nose is relatively sweet, with the bourbon's caramel notes accented by the palm sugar and passionfruit syrups. Some spice notes (cinnamon especially) from the bourbon mingle with the falernum and bitters. The sip is initially sweet, but restrained. A hint of tropical fruit and sourness comes in just behind, which segues into spice and wood notes from the bourbon, falernum and bitters, which carry through to the finish with lingering fruit.

While this is something of a complicated beast for nominally being an Old Fashioned, I think there's a lot that can be done by taking that basic form and accenting it with the tools of tiki drinks. High rye bourbons like Bulleit have a lot of spice that play well with ingredients like cinnamon, falernum, and ginger syrups. So you can get some nice tropical flavors while still producing a strong, punchy drink.

Hale Pele: Portland's Newest Tiki Bar

Earlier this year I was extremely disappointed to hear that one of my favorite watering holes, the tiki bar Thatch, was closing. However, I was quickly soothed when I learned that the space was being taken over by Blair Reynolds of Trader Tiki/B.G. Reynolds syrups fame. If anyone knows tiki, it's Blair, so I trusted him to do it up right.

Last night was the opening night for Hale Pele, as it has been rechristened. Blair has kept everything done right by the former owners and added some nice new touches to the place. The ambiance is perfect, with the tiny bridge over a water feature ushering you into a tiki wonderland.

The water feature abides

The main bar, overseen by the the three Marquesan Baby Eaters from the original Portland Kon-Tiki

Blair chats with customers

The tiki gods confab at the end of the bar

I got to the bar about an hour after the doors opened and it was already packed to capacity. The space is relatively small, with about a dozen seats at the bar and maybe two or three times that many in booths along the opposite wall. The size seems to be about right, as more seating would definitely strain the abilities of the two bartenders behind the stick to keep up with orders.

As a nice cameo, Martin Cate of Smuggler's Cove and tiki guru extraordinaire was there to help with the opening.

Thankfully I was able to nab a seat in a booth quickly after arriving. I settled in and glanced over the well balanced menu to see what was available.

After a bit of thought, I ordered a mai tai (the true test of a tiki bar). While it took a little while to get my drink (they were swamped), it was worth the wait. Blair has gone for the most serious Mai Tai possible, a 1:1 split of Smith & Cross Jamaican Navy proof rum and St. James Royale Ambre rhum agricole. This is a very rum-forward mai tai and a force to be reckoned with. It actually reminded me a lot of my personal mai tai recipe, though even more amped up.

While I only sampled a few of Blair's wares, looking over the back bar made me almost start drooling with the vast selection of rums and other spirits. There are some real gems on the top shelf, like Rhum J.M. VSOP and 1997, as well as a bottle of Clément XO that I really want to try.

The rum selection is... voluminous...

The people working behind the bar and the waitstaff did an excellent job given how full the bar was. Nathan and Mindy (I think that's her name) were putting out fantastic drinks along with Heather playing a bar-back roll (I think?). One sign of quality is that everything was being measured with Oxo measuring cups, meaning that the drinks were perfectly balanced and should remain so every time you order one.

Mindy rocks a serious Hawaiian shirt

Nathan in action

After the mai tai, I relocated to the bar and ordered a Jet Pilot. It showed up in 'reentry' fashion with a flaming sugar cube and a dash of cinnamon to give it real pyrotechnics. The drink was easily as good as the one I got at PKNY a few years back and half the price. It had a really excellent balance, with the strong flavors of Lemon Hart 151 just edging out the sweet, spice, and sour elements of the drink. They also have their blender technique down proper, as the drink started out strong to remind you just how much rum is in it, while retaining solid flavor as it was diluted by all of the crushed ice.

I finally departed after several enjoyable hours and rode home in the cool of the evening. I look forward to many more trips to Hale Pele and seeing how the bar evolves over the coming years. If you're looking for an enjoyable place to get a drink in Portland, I would put Hale Pele right up the with the other mixology heavyweights of our fine city.

Tiki Classics: the Nui Nui

The Nui Nui presents what was one of Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's greatest challenges: determine the contents of the otherwise secret Don's Spices #2 and Don's Spices #4. Don the Beachcomber was notoriously secretive about the ingredients in his drinks, rightly fearing that they would otherwise be poached by other bartenders and owners in the cutthroat world of mid-century tiki-dom. The 'Bum relates in his essential tiki tome Sippin' Safari the extreme lengths that Don went to to keep his ingredients a secret:

“Ray would go to the Astra Company out in Inglewood to pick up #2 and #4,” Mike (son of a Beachcomber bartender) told the Bum. “A chemist would open a safe, take out the ingredients, and twirl some knobs in a big mixing machine, filling up a case …” Then they’d close the secret stuff in the safe. Ray (Mike’s father) took the bottles – marked only #2 and #4 – back to Don the Beachcomber’s.”

Berry was able to determine that #4 was cinnamon syrup via one of Don's early bartenders, Bob Esmino. However, #2 eluded him until he eventually sussed out that it was a 1:1 mixture of vanilla syrup and allspice dram. With that information in hand, the secret to the Nui Nui was finally unlocked.

Nui Nui
2 oz amber Virgin Islands rum
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orange juice
0.25 oz cinnamon syrup
0.25 oz Don's Spices #2
1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients with a handful of crushed ice, blend for 5 seconds and pour unstrained into a chimney or tiki glass with more crushed ice. Insert a long strip (6+ inches) of orange peel into the drink and let some of it hang out.

The nose is dominated by orange peel and rum. The sip starts smoothly from the sweet vanilla syrup, then transitions into citrus from the lime and orange juices, finishing with a bit of spiciness from the cinnamon syrup and allspice dram. Underneath it all, the rum provides support.

For appearing to be a relatively straight-foward drink, this one is a bit tricky. Specifically, it requires the right rum. Cruzan 2 Year is my go-to for this drink, but I hear that Don Q Añejo and Mt. Gay Eclipse also work well. I've tried it with a few other amber rums, but for whatever reason the drink just didn't come together with otherwise stand-up rums like El Dorado 5 Year. If you want to bump up the sweetness of this drink (I know I used to, until my palate changed a bit), bumping up the Don's Spices #2 is probably the best bet, as the vanilla and allspice will counterbalance each other fairly well, though if you have really strong vanilla syrup it can get into orange creamsicle territory.

New Tiki Classics: the Stormy Mai Tai

The Stormy Mai Tai comes from Guiseppe Gonzales, who revealed the recipe in Paul Clarke's post about the bitters-heavy Trinidad Sour, a drink that I reviewed a while back. Both of these drinks invert the normal ratio of spirits to bitters, using 90-proof Angostura bitters as a base spirit and liquor as an accent.

Stormy Mai Tai
1.5 oz Angostura bitters
1 oz lime juice
0.75 oz orange liqueur
0.75 oz orgeat

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice, and strain into a chilled rocks glass full of cracked ice. Float 0.5 oz of light rum on top and garnish with a sprig of mint.

The nose is pleasantly funky from the float of Banks 5 Islands rum, with some background spices from the bitters. The sip begins with pleasantly nutty sweetness care of the orgeat and orange liqueur, then segues into a briefly sour interlude of lime, quickly transitioning to massive spice flavors of cinnamon and clove from the Angostura bitters. As the drink continues to dilute, the spice flavors become more integrated, spreading across the sip and joining up with hogo from the light rum float.

This may very well be my new favorite tiki drink. I think I'm going to have to stock up on Angostura bitters, because this is too delicious to not make again and again. While the flavors are massive, everything integrates beautifully, with tasty transitions that leave the finish pleasantly dry and more-ish. I'm a little bit sad that I didn't have any mint on hand to do this one up properly, but the choice of Banks 5 Island rum was a good choice, as it's hogo flavors mesh well with the Angostura bitters' spices. The combination of bitters and B.G. Reynolds' orgeat also give the drink an incredibly thick mouth feel, which is part of what makes this drink so great.