Thursday, October 13, 2011

bikini atoll

1 oz Wray & Nephew Rum
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1/2 oz Curaçao or Triple Sec (Senior Curaçao)
1/2 oz Orgeat (BG Reynolds)
1 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice and a spent 1/2 lime shell. Add a straw and garnish mint sprigs.

Last week for Thursday Drink Night, the theme was the "Rick Stutz Dance Party"; Rick is the man behind the Kaiser Penguin blog, and that event at December's Drink.Write in Washington, DC, will be in his honor. The goal was to come up with possible cocktail menu items for that night given either Rick's preferred ingredients or references to Rick himself in the titles. Knowing that Rick loves Wray & Nephew Rum, I thought back on a J.Wray drink I had earlier in the year, the Nuclear Daiquiri. From that drink, I usurped a few elements from it and merged it with the classic Mai Tai. Instead of calling it a Nuclear or Atomic Mai Tai, I named it the Bikini Atoll after the islands where nuclear testing was done in the 1940s and 50s. Moreover, Bikini Atoll sounded a lot like Cuban Anole which was a delightful Mai Tai variation created by Ben Sandrof and served at Manhattan's PKNY bar.
The Bikini Atoll's mint garnish contributed greatly to the drinks aroma. The sip contained the citrus components of lime juice and orange liqueur as well as the orgeat notes. The swallow was a potent combination of the Jamaican rum, Green Chartreuse, and spice notes especially the falernum's clove. The Bikini Atoll was definitely funky and strong while still being rather drinkable and refreshing.

4 comments:

Noah said...

We made these last week and really enjoyed them. Thanks Fred!

frederic said...

Excellent! Hope you two are doing well.

Paul said...

Tried this Saturday evening and it was really potent with the Chartreuse and the overproof rum, but also very sweet with 1.5 oz of high sugar additives. If I make it again I would lower the falernum to 1/4 oz instead and maybe cut back on the triple sec a little as well. It's like a spicier mai tai.

Unknown said...

I made this last night, and it was delicious! It's nice to have another use for W&N Overproof. Funky, sweet, and complex!