Friday, December 14, 2018

the sex lives of cannibals

1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Coruba)
1 oz Aged Demerara Rum (El Dorado 5 Year)
1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua)
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Whip shake, pour into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, "float" 1/4 oz allspice dram (Hamilton's), and garnish with freshly grated coffee bean.

Two Fridays ago, I thought about the pairing of coffee and Campari in cocktails like the Lodge Negroni and Lonnie Desoto. Soon my mind wandered towards combining two hallmark Tiki drinks that contain one or the other of those ingredients, namely the Mr. Bali Hai and the Jungle Bird, respectively. Given that there is overlap with rums and pineapple juice in the two libations, the only deciding factor was which citrus to use in the mashup; I opted for the lemon from the Mr. Bali Hai so as to keep a more neutral flavored acid source. Since allspice dram complements Campari in recipes like the Chester Rapkin and Negroni Grog and complements coffee such as in the 1919'36, I added it in as a top layer to cascade down through the crushed ice.
Instead of mashing up the names akin to the Mr. Bali Bird or other, I wanted something colorful and abstract like The Facts Concerning the Late Van Hagen & The Thirsty Man's Safari (but perhaps not quite so long), and I landed upon the The Sex Lives of Cannibals which was a travelogue by J. Maarten Troost about his time in the South Pacific. Once prepared, the drink greeted the nose with allspice and coffee aromas. Next, lemon, dark roast notes from the coffee, and a hint of pineapple filled the sip, and the swallow presented dark funky rums, coffee, and orange flavors with allspice notes entering the mix as the liqueur sank through the ice to get to the straw. Here, the Campari came across as less intensely bitter and more dark similar to the feel of Amer Picon.

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