ken-tiki

1 1/2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon
3/4 oz Falernum
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
rinse Herbsaint

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass pre-rinsed with Herbsaint (can sub pastis or absinthe).
Last night was LUPEC Boston 1950's-inspired Tiki Bash held at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts as a charity event to raise money for the On the Rise organization. On the drink menu were three classic cocktails, the Mai Tai, the Painkiller, and the Fogcutter, and one LUPEC original, the Ken-Tiki. The Ken-Tiki was the first one we tried and it was quite a delight! The drink had a crisp Campari flavor from the bitter liqueur pairing up with the lemon juice. Besides the Campari's herbal notes, the drink had a nice degree of spice from the falernum and Herbsaint. Since the drinks were batched and to make life easier for the staff, the Herbsaint was mixed in instead of used as a glass rinse; however, the end result of anise notes was the same. The drink was not overly sweet from the falernum and it had a pleasant fruitiness from the passion fruit and lemon juices. Indeed, a few people were left wondering if there was some grapefruit in there from the juices playing with the Campari notes.

After semi-unsuccessfully searching Google for Ken-Tiki (it did turn up a motorized shore fishing implement which I sort of doubt the ladies of LUPEC naming a drink after, although I could imagine it being useful on Pacific islands), I gave up on trying to figure out what the drink's name meant. Andrea figured it out though -- a punful reworking of Kentucky where the base spirit derives from to include the cocktail style. A bit of a groaner, but the tastiness of the drink rescues it all for sure.