surfer rosa

1 1/2 oz Berkshire Mountain Distiller's Greylock Gin
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass containing 2 oz of soda water. Top with ice, garnish with a grapefruit twist, and add a straw.
The final drink I created for the inaugural Loyal Nine Brunch which launches tomorrow was a Highball idea. I knew that I wanted to do something with bubbles for brunch but I was stumbling around for ideas. Last night, I thought about the syrup duo of passion fruit and honey that appears in Don's Special Daiquiri. Since I already had a pair of rum drinks, I figured that gin was the way to go, and from there, I thought about the carbonated Bee's Knees that I batched for a large event:

Carbonated Bee's Knees
• 2 oz Greylock Gin
• 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice (fine strained but not clarified)
• 3/4 oz Water
• 1/4 oz Simple Syrup
Batch for one or larger (we were doing 1.8 liters or so in each 2 liter bottle), chill on ice, and carbonate to 40-45 psi. Pour into a 4 oz glass and garnish with lemon oil.

The carbonated Bee's Knees were a hit not only for the bartender working the large book launch in the coffee shop but for the guests as well. Here, adding in passion fruit flavors and making it à la minute, and all it needed was a name. I wanted to keep it tropical sounding, and the Pixies provided an album name for a song title; their prior EP would have been appropriate too with Come On Pilgrim...

rum fizz tropical

1 1/2 oz Old Monk Rum
1 oz Coconut Cream
1 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1 1/2 oz Heavy Cream
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice. Strain into a Collins glass with 2 oz soda water. Garnish with an orchid and freshly grated nutmeg.

For a first drink at the Baldwin Room at Sichuan Garden II, I asked bartender Vannaluck Hongthong for the Rum Fizz Tropical. Van described how this was Ran's Ramos Gin Fizz crossed with a Painkiller. I was drawn to it for it reminded me of Charles H. Baker's Gin Fizz Tropical which Baker described as "an affair based on the New Orleans Fizz background but using pineapple syrup... instead of sugar, and juice from... green limes instead of lemon." Here, the Ramos theme included pineapple juice not syrup, and the syrup's sweetness was derived from coconut cream instead.
The Rum Fizz Tropical started with a nutmeg spice and floral bouquet. Next, a carbonated creamy coconut and lime sip transitioned into pineapple and dark rum on the swallow.

palace of the dead

1 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1/2 oz Ancho Reyes Chili Liqueur
1/2 oz Brovo 14 Amaro
1 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
Two Mondays ago, Andrea and I headed over to the Baldwin Room at Sichuan Garden II where bartenders Vannaluck Hongthong and Raul Zelaya were at the stick. For a first drink, Andrea asked Van for the Palace of the Dead, and Van described how this was Ran Duan's recipe. In the glass, the garnish added lime notes to the mezcal's smoke aroma. Next, grape and caramel on the sip led into agave, pepper spice, and herbal notes on the swallow.

kanaloa

2 oz Privateer Silver Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Kronan Swedish Punsch
1/2 oz Chamomile Tea Syrup (*)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash St. George Absinthe

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Fill with crushed ice, garnish with a lime wheel, and add straws.
(*) 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup sugar, 4 tsp dried chamomile flowers (or 4 chamomile tea bags). Steep 20 minutes. Via Charles Joly in Imbibe.
Another one of my brunch ideas for the inaugural cocktail menu on November 1st was a Tiki drink. Instead of taking the more dark and brooding route with Tiki, I wanted to go something brighter with the feel of a Corpse Reviver #2. About a week before, I had made up a chamomile tea syrup on a whim, and this breakfast Tiki project seemed like the perfect use. I shopped around with a few ingredients to balance its brightness, but falernum and Benedictine did not seem to do the job; however, Swedish Punsch seemed to provide the right herbal notes and was slightly darker and deeper to balance the chamomile.

millers river milk punch

4 oz High Lawn Farms Jersey Cow Whole Milk
1 1/2 oz Old Monk Rum
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Top with ice cubes and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
For Loyal Nine's upcoming brunch, I was tasked to develop some brunch drinks. While I wanted to do a Ramos Gin Fizz variation, I know how busy brunch can get and how long those drinks take to make (besides clean up afterwards). Instead, I began to hone in on the dairy aspect and considered the milk punch. No, not the Mary Rocket clarified ones, but the 1862 Jerry Thomas ones that more resemble White Russians and have a long history of New Orleans brunch drinks especially at Brennan's Restaurant. For a name, I turned to a nearby Colonial era river that provided transport between commercial sites and made up the boundary of Cambridge and Somerville before it was mostly filled in with landfill. Perhaps it is also a tribute to our neighbors across the street in the Millers River Apartments who provide local color to our windows' view.

dead reckoning

1 1/2 oz Gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a pineapple skull (lime wheel with mint).
After my Sunday night shift two weekends ago, I turned to Tiki Drinks: Tropical Cocktails for the Modern Bar for some relief. There, I spotted the Dead Reckoning which appeared like a pineapple juice-laden Green Ghost from the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book. Once in the glass, it offered a mint and herbal aroma that gave way to lime and pineapple notes on the sip. Finally, the swallow shared gin's juniper and Green Chartreuse's herbal flavors with pineapple's smoothness on the swallow.

white lion

1 jigger Bacardi Rum (1 1/4 oz DonQ Gold, 1/4 oz Wray & Nephew, 1/4 oz Vale d'Paul Agricole)
3 dash Maraschino Liqueur (3/8 oz Luxardo)
2 dash Apricot Liqueur (3/8 oz Rothman & Winter)
2 dash Gum Syrup (omitted)
Juice 1 Lime (1/2 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Fridays ago, I reached for Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 for the evening's nightcap. The recipe that called out to me was the White Lion in the rum section; I had previously skipped over that drink for it has the same name and a bit of similarity to Jerry Thomas' White Lion (which is rather similar to his Knickerbocker). Then again, Max Toste put his own spin on the White Lion at Deep Ellum, so perhaps riffing on the classic while maintaining the name has always been the norm. Instead of passing it over this time, I opted to make this Daiquiri variation of sorts.
In the glass, this White Lion shared funky and grassy rum aromas along with lime notes. The lime continued on into the sip where it mingled with hints of cherry and orchard fruit. And finally, the swallow shared funky rum, apricot, and nutty cherry flavors. Overall, it was closer to a Periodista than a classic Daiquiri.

tropical itch

1 oz Bourbon (Four Roses)
1 oz Jamaican Rum (Coruba)
1/2 oz Demerara 151 Proof Rum (Lemon Hart)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Curaçao (Van der Hum)
1/2 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
1 oz Pineapple Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a Highball glass (Tiki mug). Top with ice and garnish with a pineapple fruit leaf and a lemon wheel (crushed ice, mint).

Two Thursdays ago, I turned to a drink recipe that I had spotted in Imbibe Magazine for the Tropical Itch. The recipe was San Diego's Fairweather's reformulation of the classic Tiki drink. The ModernTiki blog credits Harry Yee at the Hilton Hawaiian Gardens resort in Waikiki in the late 1950s who was also the creator of the Blue Hawaii. Moreover, the KaiserPenguin and others assign credit that Yee was the first person to garnish a cocktail, namely the Tropical Itch, with a paper umbrella. However, Beachbum Berry attributes the drink to Joe Scialom of Suffering Bastard fame at the Caribe Hotel in the late 1950s, and it was not a paper parasol but a bamboo back scratcher as a garnish.
Well, after narrowing down the origins of the drink to two different Tiki legends, it was time to make the drink. The Tropical Itch as I garnished it smelled pleasantly of mint. Lemon, orange, and passion fruit on the sip gave way to funky rum, pineapple, and passion fruit on the swallow.

declaration

2 oz Plymouth Gin
1/2 oz Rare Wine Co. Boston Bual Madeira
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Demerara Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.

The last drink I had at No. 9 Park was the Declaration concocted by No. 9 alumni Sam Olivari. When I mentioned that the drink structure reminded me of Brick & Mortar's Two Caravels which featured rum and sherry instead of gin and Madeira, bartender Ryan Lotz declared that they had that drink made for them with Madeira which influenced this creation. The comment also came about as I listed the places besides Loyal Nine that utilize Madeira in their menus, and Brick & Mortar featured a Malmsey Madeira recipe with their Red Duster Swizzle.
The Declaration began with a clove aroma from the bitters that preceded the dry lemon and grape sip. The swallow contained much of the complexity with juniper, citrus, apricot, and clove notes.