sea beast

3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Passion Fruit Puree (3/4 oz Passion Fruit Syrup)
3/4 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Cane Syrup or 2:1 Simple (1/2 oz JM Sirop)
1 1/2 oz Clement VSOP Rhum Agricole (Rhum Depaz)

Shake with ice and strain into a Highball glass (Tiki mug) with cubed ice (crushed ice); I added a lime wheel and freshly grated nutmeg as garnish.

For Tiki time two Wednesdays ago, I reached for Sarah Baird's New Orleans Cocktails to make the other Latitude 29 recipe. That one was also crafted by bartender Brad Smith and was called the Sea Beast. The Sea Beast's rhum agricole, passion fruit, lime, and Fernet Branca reminded me of the Black Sea Swizzle, and the combination of Fernet Branca and passion fruit has worked well in other drinks such as the Poet & the Peony and the Cornerman.
The Sea Beast presented a lime and woody spice aroma from the garnish on top of the tropical fruit and menthol notes seeping up through the crushed ice. Next, lime, caramel, and a hint of tropical on the sip transitioned into grassy rum and passion fruit melding into bitter herbal complexity on the swallow with a clean finish. Moreover, there was a perfume-y note in the mix that reminded me of the Rude Boy.

the undead gentleman

1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1 oz Black Blended Overproof Rum (Plantation OFTD)
1 1/2 oz Blended Aged Rum (R.L. Seale's 10 Year)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe rinsed with absinthe blanche (Butterfly), and garnish with intertwined lime and grapefruit twists.
Two Tuesdays ago, my search for another Tiki the Snow Away recipe led me to the Smuggler's Cove book. There, I stopped on Martin Cate's The Undead Gentleman that was essentially a served up version of the 1934 Zombie minus the grenadine. Once prepared, The Undead Gentleman greeted the nose with cinnamon, anise, and lime aromas. Next, lime and grapefruit mingled on the sip, and that led into robust rums, cinnamon, clove, and anise flavors on the swallow with an almost cherry note on the finish as the drink warmed up. Moreover, Andrea commented that the absinthe really worked well with the funkier notes in Plantation's OFTD overproof rum.

lost at sea

1 1/2 oz Dry Gin (Beefeater)
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Guava Purée (Guava Jelly melted 1:1 with water)
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. I garnished with a mint sprig and freshly grated nutmeg.
Two Mondays ago, I began perusing the web for tropical ideas for another entry in the Tiki the Snow Away event on Instagram. On the BarNotes app, I came across the 2015-vintage Lost at Sea by Chris Resnick while at Cardinal Spirits in Indiana, and the combination reminded me of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a with guava in place of Peychaud's Bitters. Once prepared, the Lost at Sea proffered a woody spice and mint aroma from the garnishes that I added. Next, lemon, pineapple, and guava on the sip transitioned into gin, pineapple, and nutty flavors on the swallow with a lingering guava finish.

norwegian negroni

1 1/2 oz Aquavit (Aalborg)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Maurin)
3/4 oz Cynar

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange (grapefruit) twist.
After returning home from my shift, there was time for a nightcap to share with Andrea. Therefore, I reached into the shelves where I pulled out the 2010 The Cocktail Collective Book where I spotted the Norwegian Negroni from Kevin Ludwig of Portland, Oregon, that reminded me of Robert Hess' 2002 Trident. Perhaps it was this similarity that gave me pause to make it over the years; however, it seemed like the perfect way to round out the week. Once prepared, the grapefruit oil from my twist substitution joined floral and caraway notes on the nose. Next, sweet grape and hints of caramel on the sip led into caraway spice melding into funky bitter-herbal on the swallow. While not a Negroni for it lacked any strong citrus element, it was not out of the realm of how a Negroni can come across.

fernet chocolate egg cream

2 oz Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup
2 oz Fernet Branca
5-6 oz Whole Milk

Build in a pint-sized milk bottle (from the freezer; measured a little over 17 oz to the top) and semi-aggressively stir to mix in the chocolate syrup (a light schmear of chocolate along the bottom is acceptable and perhaps desirable). Top with 6-7 oz cold Q Club Soda, gently stir to make a frothy head, leave in the spoon, and add a straw. The straw should float suspended on the head. The coldness of the ingredients helps to make the best Egg Creams (our Fernet is stored in the fridge along with the milk and club soda).

At Our Fathers, we offer Egg Creams of two varieties: Chocolate and Pistachio. But why can't these non-alcoholic wonders be made more adult? And what is an Egg Cream anyways? The genesis of the Egg Cream can be traced back to somewhere between the 1880s and the first decade of the 1900s either in Brookyln or Manhattan's Lower East Side. The name is a paradox since it contains neither egg nor cream, but milk, seltzer water, and flavored syrup, and this combination cuts the richness of the milk with the lightness of the soda water to make a not that sweet and almost ethereal libation. There are many theories behind the name such as the more credible Yiddish explanation of the "echt cream" (good cream) to a French actor asking for "chocolat et crème," and the mixture most likely stemmed from the classic ice cream-free milkshake which did indeed contain egg along with cream, syrup, and soda water. I remember when growing up that my mom used to buy Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup and declared that it was the only proper chocolate syrup for an Egg Cream; however, she never made us a single one (we used it in chocolate milk or on ice cream sundaes for years before Hershey's Brand bumped this product from most supermarkets back in Connecticut). The syrup itself was created in the early 1900s, so most likely the Egg Cream was created without it and instead a house syrup as the original flavorant, but many like my mom grew up to believe that it was crucial. It did not hurt that her maiden name was Fox either.
Since I could not get guests at my bar who ordered Egg Creams after a round or two of cocktails to try a spirits-laden one, I decided to make myself one for my shift drink the following evening two Sundays ago. As Fernet Branca and chocolate are great bedfellows especially with dairy such as in my 2009 Fernet Alexander, I took this path as my first step. The addition of one eighth of the total volume being spirit required a little adjustment, but I think the end result turned out decently well since it passed the straw test such that the foam supported the plastic drinking straw. Here was the great combination of minty chocolate that colored the dynamic result of carbonation dancing between fat and protein molecules. Moreover, it did feel a touch naughty drinking a seemingly non-alcoholic libation with the adult beverage ingredient in the mix.

deathstalker

1 1/2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Orgeat
1 oz Campari
1 oz Aged Rum (Don Q Añejo)
1/2 oz Funky Jamaican Rum (Rum Fire)
1 pinch Salt

Dissolve the salt in the juices, add the rest, shake with ice, strain into a Tiki bowl, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish in Tiki style such as mint or edible flowers if in season, and a bit of fire would not be out of place here.

After a long Saturday night shift two weeks ago, I began to revisit my earlier in the day thoughts on how to tinker with the Scorpion Bowl. When I focused on the orgeat, I considered how well it worked in the past with Campari such as in the Bitter Maita'i, Pinwheel Swizzle, and other drinks. Since I did not want this bowl to be overly bitter and stray too far from the concept of punch being a well-balanced drink, I added a pinch of salt to the mix to mellow the Campari like was done in the Camparipolitan, Fearless, and others. And finally, I decided not to go all Campari but to keep some the classic Scorpion Bowl's rum element to provide a backbone and a hint of funk to the mix.
For a name, I dubbed this one after the Deathstalker Scorpion, although with a bowl named the Deathstalker, I was wondering if I should have swapped the rum for Fernet Branca and went Ferrari in style. Once prepared, the Deathstalker gave forth an orange, nutty, and tropical nose in an almost mango-like way. Next, rich orange with lemon accents on the sip transitioned into rum, nutty, and orange flavors on the swallow with a tangy finish containing a hint of bitterness.

the hardest walk

2 oz Punt e Mes
1 oz Plantation Overproof Rum (Plantation OFTD)
1/2 tsp Gran Classico (1 bsp Campari)
14 drop Regan's Orange Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

After walking home in the monsoon two Fridays ago, I took off some of my wet clothing and definitely needed a drink quickly. Since New Orleans Cocktails was still on the counter from the night before, I began flipping through and spotted the aptly named "The Hardest Walk." The recipe was crafted by Turk Dietrich of Cure whom I have had the pleasure of sitting in front of a few times in my visits to the Crescent City. Although not the time that Andrea did the Hardest Walk in 2009 to get to The Cure from the French Quarter in a straight line through what was the dangerous Magnolia Projects before Katrina. We were scolded by our bartender Rhiannon Enlil that night never to do that again (and instead take the street car) and that we needed a drink -- now!
The Hardest Walk gave forth orange oil aromas over grape plus dark notes from the rum. Next, a mellow grape sip was the change-up pitch to the intense rum and rounded bitter swallow with a bitter orange finish. Overall, Turk's inverse Rum Manhattan was a win, although it was less inverted in the glass given the rather strong overproof rum.

molokai mishap

1 oz Cocchi Americano
1 oz Rothman & Winter Peach Liqueur (Briottet Crème de Peche de Vigne)
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Rhum Agricole Blanc (Clement Premiere Canne)
8 drop Bittermens Tiki Bitters (1 dash Bittermens Burlesque)

Build in a double old fashioned glass (small Tiki mug) over two large ice cubes (cracked ice), and stir.

Two Thursdays ago, I turned to my new copy of Sarah Baird's New Orleans Cocktails to see if there were any tropical drinks to match the Tiki the Snow Away theme this month on Instagram. When I came upon the section of drink recipes from Beachbum Berry's Latitude 29, I was drawn in by Brad Smith's Molokai Mishap for it reminded me of two older equal parts cocktails: the 1937 One Way with the peach element and the 1903-1933 Checkers with rum, pineapple, and aromatized wine.
The Molokai Mishap greeted the nose with grassy and peach aromas. Next, pineapple on the sip was followed by more grassy rum and peach elements on the swallow for what made for a great tropical low proof number to round out my evening.

mutiny on the mili atoll

1 oz Batavia Arrack
1 oz Rhum Agricole Blanc (Rhum Clement Premiere Canne)
1 oz Green Tea, strong steep, cooled
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz Crème de Cacao (Tempus Fugit)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Shake with ice, strain into a tall glass, and fill with crushed ice; alternatively, swizzling in crushed ice would not be out of place here. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Two Wednesdays ago, I was thinking about lesser known Tiki drinks that have stood the test of time in my mind, and the Pago Pago from the 1940 The How And When came to mind. I thought about how it could be riffed into a Batavia Arrack drink perhaps called the Goa Goa, but it needed more changes to differentiate it from the original. One of the Batavia Arrack recipes that popped into my head was the more recent Seven Seas Swizzle that paired the spirit with green tea syrup, lime, and orange bitters. In researching the South Pacific, I came across a New England link in the Marshall Island chain. In 1823, the Nantucket-based whaler The Globe suffered a mutiny that led their ship to the Mili Atoll; the mutineers killed the captain and three officers, and they left the rest on the atoll where the natives did in all but two.
The Mutiny on the Mili Atoll began with a woody nutmeg spice over funky spirit aromas. Next, pineapple and lime on the sip surrendered to funky, grassy, and herbal flavors on the swallow with the cacao's chocolate notes melding well into the Batavia Arrack's funk.