pb2y2

Juice 1/2 Lime (1/2 oz)
1 1/2 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Grenadine (1/2 oz)
1/2 oz Curaçao (3/4 oz Cointreau)
1 1/2 oz Light Puerto Rican Rum (Don Q Añejo)
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Coruba)

Blend with a half scoop of crushed ice, pour into an individual scorpion bowl, and garnish with a gardenia (whip shake, pour, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with chocolate mint and a nasturtium).

Two Tuesdays ago, I decided to make a recipe from Trader Vic's 1972 Bartender's Guide that I had previously passed over called the PB2Y2. I had probably skipped this Trader Vic original for it requires three freshly squeezed juices akin to the Tortuga which is a slight hurdle for making drinks at home (less so at work where all the juices are prepped in advance), and the Tortuga is basically a gussied up PB2Y2 with different rums and the addition of sweet vermouth and cacao. Here, the sweetener focus was Trader Vic's duo of curacao and grenadine that he utilized frequently in drinks like the Pondo Punch and others. The orange juice here was pushed forward relative to the Tortuga and Pondo Punch though.
The drink name was a tribute to the World War II flying boats that ventured from Alaska to the South Pacific after the war to make booze runs for the military bases; Trader Vic crafted this combination in their honor. Once prepared, the PB2Y2 gave forth an orange, chocolate-mint, and peppery floral bouquet to the nose. Next, a tart orange, lemon, lime, and berry sip gave way to rum flavors with a hint of funk and an orange finish. Even with the adjustment in the sweeteners, the drink came across as slightly crisp, so I do recommend adding either simple syrup or increasing the grenadine and curacao to match the lemon and lime juice amounts.