isla tortuga

1 1/2 oz Column Still Gold Rum (Don Q Añejo)
1 oz Overproof Black Rum (Plantation OFTD)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Maurin)
1/4 oz Grenadine
1/4 oz Campari
1/2 oz Curaçao (Senior)
1/2 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with citrus peel sails.

During the Tiki the Snow Away hashtag event on Instagram, I was taken by London home bartender @tikildn's riff on Trader Vic's 1946 Tortuga (which was in turn possibly a riff on the Floridita Daiquiri). Here, he dropped the lemon juice to reduce the citrus from 3 to 2 juices, swapped the crème de cacao to Campari, and made a few small touches to the ratios and rum identities. The combination of the grenadine left over from the original and the inserted Campari reminded me of the "bittersweet" mix in the Freaky Tiki. For a name, he called this one the Isla Tortuga after the given name of the island where Columbus landed in his first voyage in 1492 before it became a haven for pirates and later developed into the country of Haiti.
The Isla Tortura gave forth fruity aromas plus hints of dark rum and citrus oils from the garnish. Next, a fruity medley of lime, orange, and grape on the sip transition into rum, berry, and bitter orange flavors on the swallow.