storm the beach

1 oz Hamilton 86° Demerara Rum (El Dorado 5 Year)
1/2 oz Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum (1 oz Plantation Dark)
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz Cinnamon-Cumin Syrup (*)
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 drop Bittermens Tiki Bitters (8 drop Bittercube Jamaican #2)

Shake with ice, strain into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with a dehydrated grapefruit slice (fresh grapefruit slice).
(*) Syrup: Bring 1 cup water and 2 broken up cinnamon sticks to a boil, simmer 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast 3 tsp cumin seed and grind. After the 10 minutes, add 2 cup sugar and the ground cumin. Strain and refrigerate. Note: I did this 1/4 scale, and I also made this as a 1:1 syrup and increased the volume from 1/2 oz to just under 3/4 oz.

Two Saturdays ago before I started cooking for Christmas eve, I spotted Ryan Welliver's Storm the Beach drink recipe in Imbibe. Ryan won the Charleston Wine & Food "Rum, Rum Rudolph" competition with this Tiki drink, and I was willing to give it a go especially since the structure reminded me of a Jet Pilot. The recipe requires the crafting of a cinnamon-cumin syrup, and since I was already in the kitchen cooking, it was not that much extra effort. While cinnamon is a well known Tiki syrup, cumin is a bit less known but it has appeared via kümmel in tropical recipes like the South Pole Swizzle, Tropicalia, and the Mata Va'ha. Perhaps in a pinch, the syrup could be split between cinnamon and kümmel to achieve a similar effect.
The Storm the Beach greeted the nose with a grapefruit and cumin aroma. Next, the grapefruit continued into the sip where it mingled with the lime and rums' caramel flavors, and the swallow presented rum, cinnamon, cumin, and clove spice with a lime finish.