Friday, September 14, 2018

in the middle of a foggy sea

1 1/2 oz Amontillado Sherry (La Garrocha)
1/2 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (Oxford 1970)
1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua)
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Whip shake, pour into a Tiki mug, fill with crushed ice, and garnish with Tiki intent. Here, I garnished with mind sprigs, but a pineapple wedge and freshly grated coffee beans or nutmeg might work even better.

On Instagram, one of my friends made my Sherry Tonga, and he inquired about other sherry Tiki ideas since he liked that one so much. After listing out the ones that I and others have conjured up, I was inspired to try my hand at another. Instead of the Sherry Tonga's Amontillado, I went back to the à la minute cream sherry of dry and nutty Amontillado or Oloroso balanced by a minor part of sweet and raisiny Pedro Ximenez that I utilized in the Sherry Mai Tai. The dark and rich notes of Pedro Ximinez made me think of pairing it with coffee, and I decided upon the Mr. Bali Hai as a starting point. Besides swapping the rums for the sherries, I added a spice note by changing the simple to cinnamon syrup and changed some of the proportions. For a name, I harkened back to the play The South Pacific where the "Bali Hai" was one of the songs. The first verse was, "Most people live on a lonely island/Lost in the middle of a foggy sea/Most people long for another island/One where they know they will like to be." Therefore, I dubbed this one In the Middle of a Foggy Sea with the hopes that a low ABV number might help to make the sea a little less foggy.
In the mug, the libation gave forth mint aromas over coffee, cinnamon, nutty, and cherry-grape notes. Next, lemon, pineapple, and hints of dark roast on the sip gave way to nutty, raisiny, coffee, chocolate, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow. Indeed, the coffee, Pedro Ximenez, and cinnamon trio worked splendidly with each other, and all of these notes were complemented by the pineapple as well.

2 comments:

John C. said...

This looks great. Did you know that Paul McGee has a drink called A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea? It even has coffee in it! https://www.liquor.com/recipes/a-lonely-island-lost-in-the-middle-of-a-foggy-sea

frederic said...

Oh man. I vaguely remember the drink name (I remember it was long), but I never made it since it was a Mr. Bali Hai with lime juice and coffee instead of lemon and coffee liqueur and seemed a bit close to the original.