Wednesday, September 10, 2014

mytoi gardens

1 1/2 oz Old Monk Rum (*)
1 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1/2 oz Vanilla Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with 2-3 dash Angostura Bitters and a pineapple wedge. Add straws.
(*) Originally and best made with El Dorado 12 Year.

A few weeks ago, our new bar manager Ashish Mitra wanted to turn over the brunch cocktail menu and asked if I had any Tiki drinks to add to a Daiquiri Time Out section. I mentioned that I had the Kuula Hina and that I could simplify it a bit by removing the sherry and Blackstrap Rum float, switching around the proportions and presentation, and changing the garnish. Ashish liked what he tasted and suggested that I tinker with the rums. The best rum combination here was with El Dorado 12 Year, but in the end, Old Monk Rum got the nod to keep the drink on a better price point; I was not bothered by the change since the dark notes and vanilla accents worked well here too, although not as much as ED12's elegant richness. For a name, a remembered Naomi Levy's description of Eastern Standard's DTO, the Chappaquiddick; she bought into Kevin Martin explaining that he was inspired by the beauty and tranquility of the Japanese gardens on Martha's Vineyard and how it was the closest to an island paradise as one could get in Massachusetts (she was unaware of the connection of a DTO to the island at the time). Therefore, I latched into the idea of the gardens and discovered that they were the Mytoi Gardens and the drink name stuck.
Once prepared, the garnishes contributed pineapple, clove, and allspice aromas. The sip then offered lime, caramel, and pineapple flavors, while the swallow shared rum, vanilla, and allspice notes with a pineapple finish. Overall, the Mytoi Garden's easy drinking seems to work well for the brunch-time cocktail menu.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had this drink at Russell House and I am now obsessed with it. Thank you for posting the recipe here. Any recommendations on the vanilla syrup?

frederic said...

We make our vanilla syrup in house using vanilla beans. I don't have our exact house recipe handy, but the one from my Drink & Tell book is 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 vanilla bean (split length-wise). Heat the sugar, vanilla, and water until a boil. Let simmer 5 minutes and let cool for an hour. Or perhaps taking the simple syrup and vanilla bean and letting it infuse overnight in a jar (or for a day or two) at room temperature so that you don't lose any of the aromatics.

In a pinch, we have used Monin brand at work, and at home, I have used BG Reynold's brand.

I believe that the recipe at Russell House Tavern now skips the dash of Angostura in the build and only has a dash on top as a garnish. The recipe here is the one I submitted to my bar manager.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thanks for the tips. :) I'm looking forward to trying this at home!