Archive for June 2020

124 Conch St.

124ConchSt

124 Conch St.

  • 1.5 oz. Plantation Pineapple rum
  • 0.5 oz. The Funk Jamaican rum
  • 0.5 oz. pineapple liqueur (Giffard)
  • 0.5 oz. Velvet Falernum
  • 0.5 oz. lemon juice
  • 0.25 oz. Benedictine
  • dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain over cracked ice in tiki mug.

Pineapple tiki without pineapple juice, which I often don’t have on hand. Here I combined some Jamaican Funk with the Stiggins’ Fancy from Plantation. For more pineapple kick I added Giffard’s Caribbean Pineapple liqueur. Lemon was my acid tartness, and for more sweetness I reached for the falernum. Finally, my go to for rounding out many a drink, tiki or not, is Benedictine and Angostura. I stand by that.

The name comes from the address of that certain sea dweller who lives in a pineapple under the sea. Are you ready, kids?

Splice the Mainbrace

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Splice the Mainbrace

  • 1.0 oz. aged Jamaican rum (Appleton Reserve)
  • 1.0 oz. aged rhum agricole (Barbancourt 8)
  • 0.5 oz. coconut liqueur (Kalani)
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 0.5 oz. passion fruit syrup (Yes Cocktail Co)
  • 0.25 oz. amaro (Brovo Amaro #14)
  • 0.25 oz. Green Chartreuse

Shake with ice and strain over cracked ice into a mule mug. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Every so often I have no rhyme or reason and start playing with a bunch of flavors, often with a tiki direction. I had the passion fruit syrup on hand and used split rums as a base, then just went at it. It doesn’t always work not having a plan. But here it worked wonderfully.

I was surprised I couldn’t find this name attached to a cocktail. There were several Mainbrace cocktails I could find, but not the full phrase, which was slang for giving sailors their daily ration of rum. If it’s a good night maybe double that ration.

Nothing Rhymes With Orgeat

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Nothing Rhymes With Orgeat

  • 1.0 oz. Mt. Gay Eclipse
  • 1.0 oz. Bacardi 8
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 0.5 oz. orgeat (Yes Cocktail Co)
  • 0.25 oz. Clement Creole Shrubb Orange Liqueur
  • 0.25 oz. allspice dram (Bitter Truth)
  • dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain over cracked ice in hurricane glass. Garnish with orange peel.

I was continuing to play with the orgeat from Yes Cocktail Co and thought adding orange would be a nice flavor combination. I split a rum base to have both a lighter and more aged. You can certainly play with these a bit. The lime of course is there for the acid, and the allspice and Angostura add some spicy depth.

There’s a common saying in lyric writing that nothing rhymes with orange (at least no perfect rhyme of a single word, though you can get there other ways). Since here I had an orangey drink, and also since everyone seems to pronounce orgeat differently (hard T? orgeAt? orgeAHt?) I thought this name appropriate.

But since there will certainly be those who contradict the meaning of the name:

I was never really taught
How to utter “orgeAHt.”
But then maybe “orgeAt”
Is the proper form of that?
If you’re French or think like me
Try “orzjah” without a T.

Kona Nightcap

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Kona Nightcap

  • 1.5 oz. Dove Tale Florida rum
  • 0.5 oz. Cruzan Black Strap
  • 0.5 oz. coffee liqueur (Kahlúa)
  • 0.5 oz. orgeat (Yes Cocktail Co)
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 0.5 oz. lemon juice
  • 0.25 oz. Benedictine
  • 0.25 oz. vanilla liqueur (Giffard’s Vanille de Madagascar)
  • dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into tiki mug over crushed ice. Garnish with lime moon.

I wanted to do a tiki cocktail with a strong coffee presence. I have made a Last Word variation in the past that combined coffee with lime and tequila, so knew that the coffee and citrus could work together, but found this much harder than I expected. In the end it came down to which coffee liqueur. I had others that tasted more of coffee and imparted more bitterness, but those didn’t blend as well into the final drink. The sweet and richness of Kahlúa worked best, and the vanilla and orgeat complimented it nicely.

I’ve only had the chance to get to Hawaii once, and it was to the Kona coast on the Big Island. The coffee was fantastic and the best way to start the day. I wouldn’t mind having this drink to end it.