Category: Other Liqueurs
Tiki Month 2018
Rum
Recipes
Other Liqueurs
Barware

Original Tiki Drink: The Red Tide

I'm actually fairly proud of this one. My little Red Tide has evolved a lot since I first started nurturing it, and I am happy with the result. I started out with the not-terribly-original idea of crafting a Tiki version of the Negroni. The web is full of attempted Tiki variants of the Negroni, but none quite pull off the trick in the way I was looking for. I wanted to retain the Negroni's simple construction and bitter character. However, a drink as fully herbal and bitter as a Negroni would be too much on a Tiki menu along side drinks with the sweet, unctuous, spicy profile from the 30s and 40s that I like so much. Finally, I needed a garnish that wowed. After much experimentation, I replaced the gin with silver rum, the vermouth with pomegranate juice, and (critically) the Campari with a wine-based apertivo called Cappelletti. The Cappelletti is gentler, lower in alcohol, and oddly nuttier than Campari. The result is nicely balanced, still bitter, but less autocratic than Count Negroni's creation. The passion fruit foam garnish is essential to the drink. It isn't Tiki without it, and frankly, it is not completely delicious. I highly recommend you give this guy a try. Not only is it delicious, pretty, and a welcome low-alcohol addition to a Tiki menu, it's a real crowd-pleaser to make and present.
RED TIDE
  • 1 oz Plantation 3-Star rum
  • 1 oz Cappelletti Apertivo
  • 1 oz POM Wonderful
Combine in a shaker with large ice and shake lightly. Fill a coupe about two-thirds full with the Sea Foam (see below). Strain cocktail over one side of the foam.
SEA FOAM
  • 6 oz passion fruit syrup
  • 2 oz lime juice
  • 2 oz water
  • 5 oz pasteurized egg whites
Combine ingredients in a cream whipper, and shake for about 5 seconds. Charge with a nitrogen charger. Shake some more. Charge again with a second capsule. Shake again. Refrigerate before use. Shake again when serving.
Here's a look at how to serve the Red Tide. abc
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Garnish
Other Liqueurs
Rule 2
Rum
Tiki Month 2018

Tiki Drink: By Way of the Dodo

Here is another drink that I found via the Cocktail Virgin blog: By Way of the Dodo. It is a creation of Matthew Rose of the Boston Area, and I've been saving this link for months to write up now. The By Way of the Dodo is an excellent example of a "Tiki version" of a non-Tiki drink. In this case, it is a Last Word of sorts. This process of Tiki-fying classics is a pretty common one today, as more and more craft bartenders come to appreciate the great opportunities the genre offers, be it the exotic flavor palette or the excuse to go over the top with a garnish. But just because this happens more and more these days, it doesn't mean it always works. You can't just swap in some pineapple juice and add cinnamon to a recipe and get a Tiki drink. For my own part, I will apparently never learn that you can't just add pimento dram and expect to get a Tiki drink.... When a Tiki reconstruction does work, however, it is glorious. The Last Word would seem to be an unlikely candidate for tikification, but this transformation is one that succeeds comprehensively.
BY WAY OF THE DODO
  • 1 oz navy strength aged rum
  • 1 oz Green Chartreuse
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 1 oz passion fruit syrup
Shake well, and strain into an old-fashioned glass. Fill to brim with crushed ice. Garnish must include 3-4 dashes of Angostura.
The resulting drink adds a tropical tang and mouthfeel to the crisp herbaceousness of the Last Word. It is quite at home in dark, colored lighting, with Martin Denny on the Hi-Fi (substitute Bose soundbar or Apple HomePod....)abc
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Tiki Month 2016
Rum
Other Liqueurs
Applejack/Apple Brandy

Modern Tiki Drink: Lost Lake’s GFY

[caption id="attachment_10952" align="aligncenter" width="550"]Lost Lake's presentation is considerably more elaborate then mine.... Lost Lake's "GFY" Their presentation is considerably more elaborate than mine....[/caption] In Chicago, there is a bar. Well, there are lots of bars in Chicago. In Chicago, there is a Tiki bar. Actually, there are multiple great Tiki bars. In Chicago there is a Paul McGee-created Tiki... (Multiple recursions edited for brevity) Lost Lake is the latest Chicago Bar project from Paul McGee, the Meryl Streep of Chicago bartenders. It is the home of some kick-ass Tiki decor, a ludicrous rum selection, and a menu full of modern original Tiki drinks. One of McGee's latest is the GFY. Now, GFY is an interesting name... On Lost Lake's Facebook page, they intimate that it stands for "Good-For-You". That's all well and good, but I have my doubts. I don't see anything particularly healthy about it. Indeed given the alcohol content, I'd come close to giving it a 3 out of 3 daggers (†††) on my personal Tiki Lethality scale. Perhaps there is some other phrase GFY could stand for...?
LOST LAKE'S GFY
  • 1 oz. Calvados
  • 3/4 oz. overproof white rum
  • 1/2 oz. Swedish Punsch
  • 1/2 oz. Dry Curaçao
  • 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 3/4 oz. passion fruit syrup
  • 1/2 oz. fresh pineapple juice
Combine with one cup crushed ice and flash blend for five seconds. Pour into a Tiki vessel to suit your mood, and garnish to suit.
Calvados is, of course, pretty unusual as the lead spirit in Tiki drinks. This again illustrates how the 21st Century Tiki Renaissance is enriching the Canon with new notes and chords that add variety to the same old beautiful songs. The GFY is not-quite identifiably fruity, deceptively spiritous, and possesses that unctuously heavy feel in each sip. Each of these are hallmarks of a classic Tiki drink. I haven't actually had a GFY at Lost Lake, or any other drink there for that matter, because I haven't been to Chicago, for business or pleasure, in years. I'd really like to, so I will make an offer to anyone reading this. I will give the first person or business in Chicago to book a Killing Time murder mystery event (yes, my "day job" is just a fun as my booze-writing sideline.) a four hundred dollar discount off the event fee. If interested, please give me a call. Lost Lake abc
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Bartenders
Board of Tiki Idols
Brandy
Gin
Other Liqueurs
Rule 4
Tiki Month 2015

TIki Drink: Tiki Tylenol

Banner TikiTylenol Full This cocktail comes by way of Board of Tiki Idols member, Doctor Bamboo. His name for it in its original form is the Pololu. You can find it in Beach Bum Berry's Remixed, since the good Doctor never seems to have blogged it. I changed its name to Tiki Tylenol, because I make some tiny changes in the recipe, and because if Tylenol is a painkiller without asprin, and this is a Painkiller without rum.... Also, like regular Tylenol, too many can result in liver damage.
TIKI TYLENOL Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice and shake very well to fully emulsify the coconut creme. Strain into a largish cocktail glass and sprinkle surface with powdered cinnamon.

This is a particularly delicious, though non-standard Tiki drink. Gin and Cognac work better together than most people think, and at three ounces, pack quite a punch. My main change is to replace the original St. Germaine with the far more potent Thatcher, and adding a little apricot in place of the pear tones in the St. Germain. This change works well, I think. It also lead to an interesting discussion two nights ago. I put the Tylenol on the menu for a bunch of bartenders. An hour and a half in, I observed loudly that I hadn't served a single one of these drinks all night. They all looked at me, and one said simply, "It has St. Germain." I replied that no, it had elderflower, not St. Germain, and what did he have against bartender's ketchup? "Nothing," was the reply. "You put a drink with it on your menu and you'll sell hell out of it to one group of customers, but the others won't touch it for anything." abc
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