The last Thursday Drink Night theme was one that I proposed to SeanMike a few weeks ago, namely room temperature cocktails. Back in November 2010, we did host a TDN with a Scaffa theme; Scaffas are but one type of room temperature drink that we interpreted as “a mixed drink, often a liquor and a liqueur or two (with or without bitters), stirred in the absence of ice to cool and dilute it.” After reading through the latest edition of Beta Cocktails, I noticed a renewed interest in the room temperature format. While they were not the classic Scaffas or Pousse-Cafés, they did have similar concepts where the heat of the spirits was quenched by sugar or lower proof wine-based ingredients. So without specifying a class of unchilled and unheated drink, we wanted to see what the Mixoloseum chatroom could conjure up! And here are some of the highlights:

Marc from A Drinker’s Peace led off the night with a classic style, the Pousse-Café, which is a layered drink.

Pousse Amer
• 1/3 oz Campari
• 1/3 oz Amaro Montenegro
• 1/3 oz Fernet Branca
Layer carefully, in order, in a Pousse-Café or narrow shot glass.

Jim Maserson, otherwise known as Sunny & Rummy on eGullet and elsewhere, left the realm of Scaffas and Pousse-Cafés by including citrus in the drink. There is no reason why these two classic styles cannot have citrus; however, in all the books I have seen, they have had nothing but liquors, liqueurs, syrups, and bitters (and in some cases egg yolk and whipped egg white). In essence, Jim’s drink is an El Diablo made in a short format.
Diabolito STP
• 2 oz Añejo Tequila
• 1/2 tsp Crème de Cassis
• 1/2 tsp Jamaican Ginger Beer Syrup
Build without ice in a snifter glass and stir. Squeeze a lime wedge and drop in.

Dr. Bamboo also took the juice route and matched pineapple juice with the rich spiciness of Zacapa rum and mole bitters.
Soft Memory
• 2 oz Zacapa Centenario
• 1/4 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1/4 oz Xocolatl Mole Bitters
Build in large wine glass and swirl vigorously to blend.

I, Frederic of CocktailVirgin, got back after my friend’s birthday dinner and I figured that a room temperature nightcap was in order. I originally made and posted this one with a Pedro Ximénez sherry, but it rather dominated the flavor profile; I remade the drink the next day with a lighter one, Lustau’s East India Solera Sherry, which is actually a blend of PX and Dry Oloroso. The drink got named after an old apple varietal.
Nonesuch Scaffa
• 1 1/4 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy (sub Calvados in a pinch)
• 1 1/4 oz Lustau East India Solera Sherry (sub a Cream Sherry)
• 1/4 oz Crème de Cacao
• 1/8 oz Fernet Branca (1 barspoon)
Build in a small cocktail glass and stir to mix.

Last Thursday here on the Mixoloseum chatroom, we had an autumnal themed drink night. Seasonal ingredients included fresh apple, fruit brandies, and even a pumpkin syrup! Without further ado, here are some of the drink highlights from the night:

Kaiser Penguin himself, Rick, came up with a muddled apple Hanky Panky of sorts that garnered the highest amount of re-tweet action that night. Perhaps more Fernet than Ada Coleman would have added, but the apple probably soothes the savage amaro beast a bit:
Apple and Pain
• 1/4 Apple
• 1/2 oz Fernet Branca
• 1 oz Carpano Antica
• 1 oz Gin
Muddle the apple with the Fernet Branca. Add rest of ingredients, shake with ice, and double strain into a rocks or cocktail glass.

KeithP of the Speakista blog also included fresh apple in his Pennsylvania-named drunk:
Rittenhouse Square
• 1/4 Apple
• Lemon Peel
• 1/2 oz Maple Syrup
• 2 oz Rye
• 1 oz Calvados
• 1 oz Lemon Juice
Muddle apple, peel, and syrup. Add rest of ingredients, shake with ice, and double strain into an ice-filled Collins glass. Top with lager beer.

Wordsmithing Pantagruel’s Ed proffered a dark rum and spice number that was lightened with the ever tasty TDN classic, Ting — a Jamaican grapefruit soda.
Fallen Friar
• 2 oz Zacapa 23 Rum
• 1 oz Bénédictine
• 1/2 oz lime
• 2 dash Angostura Bitters
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Top with Pink Ting soda and garnish with a lime wedge.

Zach Pearson contributed a pair of drinks, and the Indian Summer was my favorite. The drink calls for Inner Circle, a flavorful Australian rum. Perhaps a robust overproof Caribbean or Demerara rum could substitute if you cannot source Inner Circle.
Indian Summer
• 1 1/2 oz Inner Circle Black Rum
• 1 oz Bonal
• 1/4 oz Apry Liqueur
• 1/4 oz Angostura Orange Bitters
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with 2 drops of Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters.

Finally, I (Frederic of CocktailVirgin) did a little kitchen work and prepared a pumpkin syrup. It came out rather funky and herbal and I felt that pisco was the perfect match for it. French vermouth functioned to dry out the balance a bit, and a rinse of Becherovka added some extra fall spice (sub Allspice Dram if you lack this Czech liqueur).
Headless Horseman
• 1 oz Pisco
• 1 oz Pumpkin Syrup (*)
• 1 oz Dry Vermouth
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass pre-rinsed with Becherovka.
(*) To make pumpkin syrup, grate a 1/2 pound of sugar pumpkin to produce 1 cup of shredded material. Add pumpkin and 1/2 cup of sugar to a pot. Heat on a medium flame for 5 minutes while stirring. Add 1/4 cup (2 oz) water and simmer for 5 more minutes. Let cool and strain. Produces a syrup that is under 1:1 in sweetness. Skipping the water addition will produce a syrup closer to 1:1 which will work well in Sours and other drinks (or to make the Headless Horseman in a sweeter fashion).

This Thursday night at the Mixoloseum chat room, the theme will be “tall drinks” which is perfect now that the weather is getting warmer! So dust off your Collins glasses and start freezing some extra ice cubes to get ready. Everything from Fizzes to Collins, Tiki to Slings, and Rickeys to Daisies is fair game! The action starts at 8pm EST and goes until the last bottle of tonic is drained (around 1am).

The last TDN theme was “In Memorial” to honor a loved one or something completely absurd yet missed. A pair of recipes to represent some of the action (the rest are on the Twitter feed) are the following:

The Elizabeth Reed Cocktail created by SunnyAndRummy
• 1 oz Scarlet Ibis Rum (sub a flavorful amber rum, Trinidadian if you got it)
• 1 oz Old New Orleans Cajun Spice Rum (sub another spiced rum)
• 1/2 oz Maple Syrup
• 1 tsp St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
Shake with ice and double strain into a cocktail glass.

Basil’s Julep created by theSpeakista
• 1 1/2 oz Old Tom Gin
• 1 1/2 oz London Dry Gin
• 1/2 oz St. Germain
• 2 dash Grapefruit Bitters
• 2 dash Orange Bitters
• 3 Basil Leaves
Stir on crushed ice until the glass is frosted. Garnish with bitters and sprigs of basil.

Trader Tiki’s Exotic Syrups was the theme this last Thursday Drink Night – a new line of syrups from CSOWG’s own Blair Reynolds AKA Trader Tiki.  Perfect for those too lazy to make their own orgeat, vanilla syrup, Don’s Mix (grapefruit and cinnamon) and cinnamon syrup but too picky to use the other commercial varieties.  The prize for best drink is a case of Trader Tiki’s Exotic Syrups, a glorious pufferfish lamp, and an 8×11 picture of beautiful desert landscape signed by Trader Tiki himself!

Check out the recipes then vote! (Poll below recipes)

Lagoon of Aitutaki: 2 oz aged agricole rhum, 3/4 oz pineapple juice, 3/4 oz grapefruit juice, 1/2 oz lime juice, 1/4 oz Trader Tiki orgeat, 1/4 oz Trader Tiki Don´s Mix

Wandering Italian: 1 oz pisco, 1 oz lemon juice, 3/4 oz Combier, 1/2 oz sloe gin, 1/3 oz Trader Tiki Don’s Mix, 3 dashes Angostura, 1t Carpano Antica float.

Frost Arrow’s Quiver: 2 oz spiced rum (Kraken), 1 oz LH151, 1 oz lime, 3/4 oz Trader Tiki vanilla, 1 dash Angostura, 2 oz ginger beer.

Cupid’s Day Off: 2 oz añejo tequila, 3/4 oz Campari, 1/2 oz kirschwasser, 1/4 oz vanilla syrup, 1/2 oz hibiscus grenadine, 1/2 oz pink grapefruit juice, shake, serve over crushed ice, float crema de mezcal.

Smoke Gets In Your Mai Tai: 1 1/2 oz mezcal, 3/4 oz Royal Combier, 1/2 oz lemon juice, 2 tsp Trader Tiki orgeat. Shake, serve up.

Ali Raja: 1 1/2 oz aged Trinidad rum, 3/4 oz Don’s Mix, 1/2 oz Demerara rum, 1/2 oz Smith&Cross rum, 1/2 oz Orange curacao, 1/4 oz grapefruit juice, 2d Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters, 4 drops Herbsaint, swizzle all with crushed ice and float 1/2 oz tawny port.

Lift-off!: 1/2 oz orange juice, 1/2 oz lime juice, 1 1/2 oz dark rum, 1/2 oz 151 Demerara rum, 1/2 oz cinnamon syrup, 1/4 oz falernum, 1d Angostura. Shake w/crushed ice-serve in double old-fashioned glass.

Sherwin’s Punch: 1 oz Calvados, 1 oz Appleton Extra, 3/4 lemon juice, 1/2 Grand Marnier, 1/2 oz Don’s Mix, 3-4 dashes mole bitters,  3-4 dashes Angostura. Shake w/ coarse crushed ice, strain into double old-fashioned glass over coarse crushed ice, orange wheel garnish.

TraderTiki’s Witch Hazel: 1 1/2 oz Laird’s Bonded applejack, 1 oz Zacapa rum, 1/2 oz Strega, 1/2 oz Trader Tiki cinnamon syrup, 1/2 oz lime juice, 2d Angostura, shaken/strained.

Voltron: 1 1/2 oz rye whiskey, 1/2 oz grenadine, 3/4 oz orange juice, 1/4 oz Don’s Mix. Shake and double strain into a pastis rinsed cocktail glass.

He waved the man away and turned to Charles Mason. “Now, my young buck,” he said, “I have ten shillings here that say I can beat you at your favorite game of billiards. Want to bet? Of course you do. Well, let’s go down to the Merchant’s Coffeehouse and try our skill. And before we start to play I’ll treat you to a rum fustian.”

“Rum fustian I May I inquire what that is?”

“Oh, I forgot that you are from the benighted land of Virginia, where your favorite drink is eggnog or mint julep. A rum fustian, my dear sir, is made of beer, sherry, gin, the yolks of eggs, sugar and a little nutmeg all stirred together and heated with a red-hot loggerhead.”

Mason reflected a minute. “That sounds like a strong drink,” he said. “But why do they call it rum fustian when there’s no rum in it?”

“That’s where the fustian part comes in, my inquiring lad,” said the Major. “Fustian as you know means an imitation.” ¹

While flipping through Jerry Thomas’ How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-vivant’s Companion, I came across a curious egg drink served hot, the Rumfustian, which as the bit of history above describes contains no rum at all. Thomas gave the history as “a drink very much in vogue with English sportsmen, after their return from a day’s shooting.” ² Histories across the web did not confirm the sportsmen lore, but suggested it was a drink of English university students, American colonial settlers, and pirates dating back to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The “rum” part of the name derives from the gypsy word for powerful, and evidence of its strength was written about in colonial America. There, the drink was often drank at breakfast and its consumption took a toll on the efficiency and character of the settlers.³

The recipe I used was from Thomas and I provide the volumes I used to make two servings in parentheses:

Rumfustian
• 12 Egg Yolks (2)
• 1 quart Beer (5 1/3 oz Mayflower Porter)
• 1 pint Gin (2 2/3 oz Beefeater)
• 1 bottle Sherry (4 oz Lustau Don Nuño Dry Oloroso)
• 1 stick Cinnamon (1/6)
• 1 Nutmeg (1/6)
• 12 large lump Sugar (2 tsp Turbinado)
• 1 rind Lemon Peel (1/6)
Heat sherry in a sauce pan with cinnamon, nutmeg (grated), sugar, and lemon peel. Mix egg yolks, beer, and gin. When sherry comes to a boil, pour (while straining) into bowl with the yolks, beer, and gin. Serve hot.

I mixed the yolk, gin, and beer in a cocktail shaker instead of whisking in a bowl (be careful to degas it every few shakes to save from making a mess as the beer decarbonates). I also left the shaker in a bowl of hot water to warm up the contents since it contained a larger volume than the hot sherry. In addition, I grated some nutmeg over the top of each cup before serving.
The beer I used from the Mayflower Brewery and was somewhat smokey; its flavors mainly came through on the first part of the sip. The cinnamon, nutmeg, and nutty sherry flavors then followed this initial malty wave. We debated whether or not we could taste the gin as it was rather well masked by the spices. Moreover, the egg yolk provided a thick, rich mouthfeel, but unlike egg white, it did not mute the drink to any degree. In addition, the Rumfustian was not as sweet as eggnog, or perhaps my interpretation of a “large lump” to be a teaspoons-worth of sugar fell short. Some might prefer this drink to be a bit sweeter so adjust accordingly. And interestingly, as the drink cooled, the spice notes diminished with the beer taking a greater prominence in the flavor profile.
Overall, the drink was pretty complex, heavy, and at first a bit bizarre. However, with successive sips, the drink grew on us and the taste became addictive. With the warmth and spice profile, I could see the Rumfustian being a great treat after coming in from the cold. And if Jerry Thomas’ lore is correct, it would most certainly help you to forget an unsuccessful day of hunting.

¹ Woodward, W.E. The Way Our People Lived: An Intimate American History. E.P. Dutton & Company, 1944.
² Thomas, J. How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-vivant’s Companion. Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862.
³ History of Alcohol in America.

Cross-posted to the Cocktail Virgin blog.

A few weeks ago while working my way through the 100 cocktails Bobby Heugel of Anvil in Houston thinks everyone should try at least once list, I was confronted with the Cuba Libre. The Cuba Libre is a step up from a standard Rum and Coke by including lime juice and often lime peel oils to the mix. To prepare for this drink, I hunted out sugar coke (not the high fructose variety) from a local Brazilian mini-mart for use later that evening. Both Charles H. Baker in Jigger, Beaker and Glass and Trader Vic in one of the recipes found in his Bartender’s Guide had a similar recipe which I went with:

Cuba Libre
• 2 oz Gold or Light Rum
• Juice of 1 Lime (~ 1 oz)
• Lime Shells (2 Halves) after Squeezing
Place ingredients in Collins glass and muddle the lime shells well to get oils on the side of glass. Add ice, fill with Coca Cola (~ 4 oz), and give a quick stir.

Rum and Coke
• 2 oz Light Rum
• 4 oz Coca Cola
Build in a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish with a lime wedge.

While some recipe sources for the Cuba Libre skip the lime shell muddling and just request dropping in the shells, the lime oils do add a bit to the drink. Moreover, I was surprised that some Cuba Libre recipes are indistinguishable from a standard Rum and Coke. However, skipping the lime juice would remove some of the complexity besides making the drink seem sweeter.

When thinking about how the Cuba Libre is a step up from a Rum and Coke, I wondered if there was yet another step up from that while still in the realm of highball cola drinks. My search led me to the Mandeville (Polar) which was most likely named after the city in Jamaica. I combined a few recipes to make the following hybrid:

Mandeville
• 1 oz Light Rum (Tommy Bahama White Sand)
• 1 oz Dark Rum (Appleton Estate VX)
• 1/4 oz Pernod
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
• 1/4 oz Grenadine
Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top off with 3 oz Coca Cola, and garnish with an orange slice. Optional: Prepare in a 200 mL soda bottle after pouring out half the soda volume; serve with straw.

The Mandeville’s garnish provided a wonderful orange nose which prepared the senses for the citrus notes in the lemon juice and the cola. The crispness of the lemon’s citric acid and the soda’s phosphoric acid hit first in the sip followed by a muddled fruit flavor from the citrus and grenadine. The Pernod came through on the swallow along with some of the white rum’s heat. To me, it was all about the Pernod giving the drink some extra class. I found the Pernod and coke flavors to be quite complementary which may not be too surprising considering the spice extracts that are allegedly in the Coca Cola recipe. The hint of anise in the Mandeville also lent the drink a slight Tiki feel.

Cross-posted to the CocktailVirgin blog.

As i did happen to write a review for Mozart Dry at the same time as i was going to write about chocolate spirit here i chose to add the review here as well as the product is the best chocolate spirit i´ve tasted.

There are basically three different types of chocolate liqueurs:

1. Original chocolate liqueurs – these are produced with genuine chocolate.
2. Chocolate flavoured cream liqueurs – using natural or artificial aromas that are added to cream liqueurs.
3. Cocoa extract liqueurs – These are traditionally produced in France and are called “Crème de Cacao” even though they do not contain any cream.The word ”Créme” in this case only signifies a high sugar content.

Mozart Dry is made by Mozart Distillerie who has since the year 1954 produced Austrian spirits in Salzburg (where Mozart was born) and has specialized in chocolate spirits for the past 30 years. What Mozart distillerie is actually doing is distilling chocolate..

The first thought that comes to mind when tasting Mozart Dry is that of a very fine chocolate, in fact i`m transported back to childhood, to those x-mas dinners where the best chocolate was served and as soon as you opened the box the fragrance teased you with tempting promises.

Its that same fragrance hitting me now – its just that i`m not holding a chocolate-box in front of me but a bottle. The nose is exquisite. The products are made with cocoa macerate – made of two types of Forastero and Trinitario cocoa that is specially produced for the Mozart Distillerie.This blend of fine cocoa beans is mixed with high-proof alcohol and then stored for 2 months in barrels and during this time the cocoa becomes completely sedimented and the end result is a clear cocoa-macerate which finally is skimmed.

There`s a different stage in the production of this spirit that is unlike any other i`ve ever heard of: The content of each bottle of Mozart spirit is soundmilled for 24 hours with Mozart’s music during the final storage before bottling.

This is because there´s a belief – and scientific research has actually been done by a Japanese scientist M. Emoto – that liquids are able to store information. And therefore special loudspeakers are actually fixed at the large stainless steel tanks so that the contents of the tanks is thoroughly exposed to the musical vibrations of Mozart´s music!

If you want to read more in detail about the sound milling of this chocolate spirit you may continue here.

The Mozart Distillerie has before this latest clear spirit also made Mozart Black, White, Gold and Amadé ChocOrange.

Mozart clear chocolate spirit is made by all natural ingredients and is as the name says quite on the dry side, very pleasant with a hint of bitterness. Its strongly chocolate flavoured but not the common mik-chocolate, this is raw bitter dark real cocoa.

In the recipe book i received there´s a drink that picked my interest, it’s a take on the Negroni, one of my favorite cocktails and of course i had to try it.

TABULA RASA (Created by Klaus St Rainer – Schumann`s bar)

1 oz Mozart Dry
.75 oz Campari
.75 oz  Carpano Antica Formula

Build in glass and garnish with an orange zest.

As i don`t have the Antica Formula it`s of course not sold here, i had to use my Martini Rosso instead. Not the same thing but as the Rosso is commonly used in Negronis its my best sub.

After trying this chocolate Negroni all i can say is that its bloody tasty and i strongly believe that a great part of why its so tasty is that this spirit is dry and just a bit bittersweet and made with real high quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content.

This is more like a xocolatl Negroni – think dark, raw, bitter, dry and crisp with just a hint of sweetness and well, i could easily imbibe more than one. Dipping the nose into the glass when its finished is even that a pleasure, the aromas of orange peel, exquisite dark chocolate and campari is making me dizzy.

Mozart Dry is a win. Not sure about the price though, with these kind of high quality real ingredients and made the way its made with music and all it cannot be cheap. One thing for sure, though, when my sample is finsihed i´m gonna try to find a bottle and i`m gonna look for Mozart Black as well.

Have you ever been at the end of a long meal and wanted a little something with alcohol, sugar or both, but yet you’re about to fall into a food coma? Or you just want a little extra something in your Saturday morning coffee? The French Nudge is a perfect marriage of all these desires. While I never got the exact recipe from the restaurant where I first had it years ago, the Brasserie Montmartre, this is what I re-created at home from memory after a few reconnaissance missions. One of the ingredients was creme de cacao, which I had none of. So I started playing around with ingredients and this is what I came up with. It was the first drink I ever named; I renamed it the Sylvan Nudge. You can guess why.

Sylvan Nudge

• 6-8 oz hot coffee
• 3/4 oz Grand Marnier
• 3/4 oz cognac
• 1/2 oz Kahlua

Top with fresh whipped cream or foamed milk. Grate a little fresh nutmeg on top.

MMM, warm deliciousness. Warms you up, gives you a pleasant feeling and a little jolt of caffeine. Whipped cream will float nicelty above the coffee (until it melts) making a crisp line between the light and the dark. The photo is of milk foamed with a Aerolatte-style milk frother.

Heck, it turns out that a lot of things are good in coffee (assuming you like coffee). I came across a recipe for Monk’s Coffee with a shot of green chartreuse in there and thought “No way.” But I tried it anyway and was amazed at how exotic and grown-up tasting it was. Frangelico, creme de cacao, Kahlua Coffee Cream liqueur, whiskey, and brandy all have their place in hot coffee drinks. And though Kahlua may seem redundant to use in a coffee drink, it really pairs well with it and adds a certain sweetness and depth that I find welcome.

When I first volunteered to write up the Macadamia Nut Chi-Chi, I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into. As it turns out, despite many hours of research and consulting some people who know a thing or two about tiki, no one really knows anything about the Chi-Chi. A light, frothy, sweet blender concoction, the Chi-Chi (or Chee Chee, as Trader Vic had it) is essentially a piña colada made with vodka. Though I have learned much about the famed and now-defunct Chi Chi club in Palm Springs, that turned out to be a dead end insofar as any written record of the Chi-Chi cocktail goes. Both Trader Vic and Donn the Beachcomber had recipes for it, but it appears that no one took the credit.

So, being that there isn’t a flashy story to spice this drink up, we turn to something useful: making pineapple juice. Being consumed with researching, I did not realize that I was completely out of pineapple juice. Fortunately I had a fresh pineapple to put into service, so if you follow along with the pictures you too can make some fresh jugo de piña at home.

First, you need to choose a pineapple.

The easiest way to do so is to grab one of the smaller green leaves at the center of the pineapple’s crown and pull. A ripe pineapple will easily yield one of the leaves, telling you that it is ready to eat.

Next, using a sharp knife trim off the pineapple crown and bottom. Pineapples have a slight dimple in the bottom, sort of like an apple. You want to trim off enough that the entire bottom of the pineapple is flush.

Now that your pineapple will stand up on its own, set it on its end and trim off the skin, cutting in long sections down the length of the fruit. (If you have supremed citrus fruit before, this is the same principle as removing the rind and pith.) Continue doing this all the way around until you have removed all the skin. You will be left with some small brown eyes embedded in the flesh—try to cut off as many of these as possible.

Next, you will trim the flesh away from the core of the pineapple in four cuts. Cut parallel to the core, which will leave you with a roughly rectangular piece of pineapple. Turn the fruit and make another cut, which will leave you with a slightly smaller rectangle on the second and third cuts. Finally, make the same cut on the last remaining piece of flesh, which will be about half the size of the first. You should now have four “filets” of pineapple and the woody core, which you can discard.

Trim the four hunks of pineapple into ½” chunks and place them in a blender with ¼ – ½ cup of water. Blend on high speed until all of the chunks are reduced to a thick puree. You may have to do this in batches to blend all the fruit, depending on how large your pineapple was.

Pour your puree into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl and allow it to drain. If you’re so inclined, you can use a spatula to force juice through the mesh. It should take between thirty minutes and an hour for your puree to release all its juice.

Once you have a strainer full of pulp that is no longer yielding juice when you stir it, you’re ready to decant the juice and start mixing drinks!

Macadamia Nut Chi-Chi
8 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
2 oz coconut cream (Coco Lopez)
4 oz vodka
2½ oz macadamia nut liqueur

Add all ingredients to a blender; fill with ice. Blend until slushy. Serves two to four. If macadamia nuts aren’t your thing, you can simply omit the liqueur and you will have a traditional Chi-Chi.

The fragrance of nutmeg is very special, i cannot even really describe it, its spicy-woody and fresh, nutty and very satisfying.

Most often i connect nutmeg with either christmas drinks or libations from the caribbean both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Nutmeg and carrot juice  is a common combo for instance among the non-alcoholic drinks. Nutmeg pairs well with drinks containing milk and cream, maybe that´s the reason its so common around christmas. Its also often use to top various punches.

The nutmeg spice itself is often ground – its a brown nut encased first by the red mace which is sweeter and then by a yellowish shell.

Nutmeg is one of the oldest spices known. It comes from an evergreen tree (myristica fragrans) native to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, near Indonesia. This tree is bearing a nut with two separate flavors. Nutmeg is one flavor and the mace another, achieved by grinding the lacy outer covering surrounding the nutmeg.

It has a warm spicy flavor and as heat greatly diminishes its flavor its best added towards the end of cooking and should be grated fresh. Mace is often preferred in light-coloured dishes as it gives a saffron-like bright orange colour.

When i experimented with a drink for the Tiki TDN last Thursday i wanted to play with my bottle of Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum that i brought home with me from the Tales. I found that this rum pairs well with aged agricole. For that drink i used one of my favorites which is Clèment VSOP – a smooth agricole rum with good flavour.The drink  Po`aha Punch (in Hawaiian Po`aha means Thursday) was dusted with nutmeg powder on top of crushed ice – a common way to crown many tiki (and other) drinks.

PO´AHA PUNCH

1oz Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum
1oz El Dorado 15yo
1 oz Clemènt VSOP, 0.5 oz fresh lime
¼ oz simple syrup
0.5 oz coffee liqueur
1t cream of coconut,
Fresh pineapple juice to top.

Run in blender until smooth with crushed ice. Pour in tall glass, top with fresh pineapple juice and more crushed ice to fill, dust nutmeg on top and garnish with a cinnamon stick.