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.

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.

After all the heat in New Orleans and the summer isn´t over yet even though much cooler here than say +37 – and the humidity is not 100% but its always welcome with a tikidrink. This post´s theme is a Summer Tiki Drink containing a new product – Root.

Of course i drink tikidrinks all the time – in the winter they also serves as a vehicle of escapism away from the cold of the winter mentally taking you to Polynesia. But in the summer they also cools you and who can resist a real tikidrink served in either a sturdy tikimug or a beautiful glass which lets you see the colors and the ice..

So here we go.

I got quite a bit of inspirations for all kinds of flavour combinations from my recent trip to the US and one of the most interesting new flavors i can work with now which arrived to my homebar just a week before myself is Root which is a new certified-organic 80-proof spirit, and dubbed “the first true American liqueur since the pre-Prohibition era.” – its spicy and deep and less sweet than rootbeer.

First was the potent root-tea which the settlers during the 1800th century picked up from the native Americans and which later gave the temperance people the idea of making root- beer by removing the booze. Root today is made by some folks callling themselves “Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction” in partnership with the folks behind Hendrick’s Gin. This is a PA product, distilled in California by Modern Spirits.

Root is said to be good with birch beer and ginger ale but its also a good ingredient for tikidrinks. I guess its good with ginger beer as well, a Root and Stormy maybe?

So i just had to try Root in a tikidrink and immediately felt it would be good with dark rum, they seem to be natural companions to me. But i also added some white rum, lime, simple sugar and to give some more depth i muddled grilled pineapple.

Garnish with pineapple skin, mint and one of those merry cocktail parasols – oh yeah.

I call the drink Mahalo – which means thank you in Hawaiian, to thank you all who have helped me in life.

MAHALO

1 oz dark Jamaican rum

1 oz white rum

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz simple syrup

2 sliced fresh pineapple rounds, grilled

4-5 tsp Root

1-2 oz fresh grapefruit juice (yellow)

Ice

Grill the pineapple rounds, cool and cut in chunks to muddle with simple syrup in shaker. Add the other ingredients and shake with ice. Double strain into a ice filled jazz glass from New Orleans. Top with some grapefruit juice.

Spear a piece of pineapple skin in a spiral manner and top with a merry parasol.

Throw in a piece of fresh mint on the side.

Enjoy!

This is an experiment with Root, maybe more of it would make a better drink? its spicier than root beer and not so sweet. The 4 teaspoons i added to the drink gave a subtle hint of something, that if you didin´t know what it was you would know something`s there but not exactly what. And in say a tikidrink that sort of mystery is just perfect.

I need to experiment more with this.

Have you yet tried Root?

This interesting drink recipe is from Sippin`Safari and originates from the Hotel King Kamehameha in Kona, Hawaii, as the origin of the drink around 1960.

KAMEHAMEHA RUM PUNCH

Named after the Hotel King Kamehameha in Kona, Hawaii, as the origin of the drink. But really..the hotel took the name after a great Hawaiian King – Kamehameha.

Also known as Kamehameha the Great, Kamehameha was the head of a dynasty ruling the Hawaiian islands for more than a century. The name Kamehameha (pronounced kuh-may-ha-may-ha) means “the one set apart.” He conquered the Hawaiian islands and formally established the Kingdom of Hawai`i in 1810.

Every year on Kamehameha Day (June 11, a state holiday in Hawai’i), National Statuary Hall is the scene of a ceremony in honor of the king and the statue of Kamehameha the Great is draped with lovely leis of fragrant flowers from Hawai’i. The Festival continues to pay tribute to Kamehameha and acts to preserve and perpetuate the Hawaiian culture.

RECIPE

1 oz Light Rum
2 oz Unsweetened Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 tsp Blackberry Brandy (i used Creme de Cassis)
1 tsp Grenadine (i used my homemade hibiscus grenadine, which adds a fresh tropical floral aroma)
1 tsp Sugar Syrup
1 oz Dark Rum

Shake everything but the dark rum with ice and strain into a tall or rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Float dark rum on top, and garnish with a pineapple chunk speared to a cherry.

In my researches for the history of this punch i stumbled upon an interesting version which was written a year ago and which i`ve somehow managed to miss, the Kamehameha Mighty Punch from Kaiserpenguin - using cayenne pepper! and Tahitian limeade – ingredients so interesting they catched my attention 100% and of course i had to try this version of the rum punch too.

KAMEHAMEHA MIGHTY PUNCH

2oz. pineapple juice
0.5oz mango puree
1oz. tahitian limeade (see below)
1.5oz amber rum
cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients except pepper with ice cubes and shake.Strain into a glass with a wide mouth.Dust with cayenne pepper and garnish if you must.

( Yes i must…and now when the fragrant honeysuckle is everywhere its the perfect summer garnish)

I really like the Mighty Punch, its nice with the slight pepper heat from the cayenne carefully dusted on the surface.

TAHITIAN LIMEADE

Mix fresh juice with 3-5 parts simple syrup and use coconut water instead of the original water. Here the coconut water comes in cans and is sweetened so i didn`t add any simple syrup to my cocktail.If you can get fresh unsweetened coconut water – its the best.

I also made a variation of this and added sugarcane juice instead of coconut water and with the rum it turned out really tasty. No syrup in this one either.

SUGARCANE LIMEADE

Mix with sugarcane juice instead and omit simple syrup. This makes for a sweet cocktail – for those with a sweet tooth.

Cinnamon has a warm sweet woody aroma that is delicate yet intense with a warm fragrant taste with hints of clove.

At the left in the picture above are4 sticks of the mexican cinnamon called canela (which also comes from Sri Lanka but is from another species than the common ceylon cinnamon) and in the bundle at the right is the common cassia often sold in the shops as ceylon cinnamon.The leaves are from a large cinnamon tree and i use them in cooking as they impart a subtle flavor in curry dishes, something i learnt while watching a TV documentary about cooking in the Seychelles. These leaves also makes for a beautiful cocktail garnish.

Native to Sri Lanka the cinnamon tree is an evergreen small tree growing to 10–15 metres (32.8–49.2 feet) tall and which contains an essential oil which gives the aromatic flavor which is extracted from the bark. The botanical name for the spice — Cinnamomum zeylanicum—is derived from Sri Lanka’s former (colonial) name, Ceylon.

Cinnamon has a long history way back to antiquity, its also mentioned in the bible. It used to be such a precious spice that it was given to monarchs. The cinnamon tree is grown for 2 years before harvesting which is done by stripping the bark from the shoots emerging from the roots after a special treatment. The inner bark is then curled into rolls which are cut for sale.

There are several varietes of cinnamon and also several varietes of cultivars as well. The name cinnamon is correctly used to refer to Ceylon cinnamon, also known as “true cinnamon” (from the botanical name C. zeylanicum). However, the related species, Cassia are as i wrote sometimes sold as cinnamon. Its the presence of eugenol in the essential oil that distinguishes cinnamon from cassia, giving it the note of clove.

I have 2 varietes at home for the moment, cassia and then the interesting mexican variety called canela that was sent to me in a swap by Anita over at “Married With Dinner“. The cinnamon that is used in Mexican cooking is a softer loose bark variety -  also grown in Sri Lanka and when i compare the two they are quite different. The cassia is harder and has a somewhat deeper but less present fragrance while the canela variety is more fragrant up-front and has a much softer bark which is also lighter in color. I love to use the sticks for garnish in cocktails and i regularly make cinnamon syrup which i think is a nessecity for my cocktail mixing.

CINNAMON SYRUP

To make cinnamon syrup you simply make a simple syrup with either 2.1 or 1:1 water and sugar of choice. Then you add a few broken cinnamon sticks into the pan and let it boil for a while before cooling. The longer you let it sit to cool the more flavor you will get so taste your way.

CINNAMON IN COCKTAILS

Checking for the use of cinnamon in cocktails in one form or another, the use of cinnamon syrup is for instance common in the world of tiki cocktails. You will also find cinnamon being used in warm cocktails around christmas time as well as in other winter time cocktails. Cinnamon also goes well with apple cider and bourbon.

For cocktail mixing and infusions:

Cinnamon combines well with:

Almonds, blackberries, blood orange, cranberry, mandarin, feijoa, fig, cumquat, orange, apples, apricots, chocolate, coffee, pears, persimon, walnuts, carrots and bananas.

CINNAMON PLANTATION PUNCH

2  oz dark rum – Plantation Barbados
.5 oz  highproof demerara rum
¼ oz Cointreau
.5 oz fresh lime juice
.5 oz cinnamon syrup
2  oz fresh blood orange juice
Top with a splash of Cherry Heering.

Shake all ingredients except Cherry Heering and strain into a ice filled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

This is a strong rum drink with lots of rum flavor yet i find it balances well with the rest of the ingredients and i think the cinnamon syrup goes well with the blood orange juice. The Plantation Barbados is a nice dark rum and well suited for both mixing and sipping and the addition of a highproof demerara gives depth to the rum flavor as well as a good kick.

This is especially a drink for rum lovers.

Upcoming TDN – Metaxa

Metaxa is a Greek spirit that combines house-distilled brandy with aged muscat wine. It is a potion I have fond memories of sipping years ago, so I’m quite excited to craft cocktails with it this coming week for Thursday Drink Night. A few of us (Matt, Matt, Gabe, Camper, Marleigh, Michele, Adam, and Jonno) will be mixing live at Erik’s house. The rest of the crew of bartenders, cocktail authors, and enthusiasts will join us in the chat room. If it’s your first time, stop by. I guarantee you’ll have a good time.

As voted on by the participants, the best cocktail of the evening will win a bottle of Aromatic Cocktail Bitters: Bitter Blueberry by Sweetgrass Winery, soon to be available at CocktailKingdom.com. The mixing ensues at 7pm EST.

Enter the chat room!

(If you have missed out on the fun so far, check out what Thursday Drink Night is all about.)

TDN Beefeater Wrap-Up

The last time gin was the Thursday Drink Night theme, we had so many good cocktails that there was no way I could make them all. And with Beefeater being a completely approachable gin, everyone threw off their black pipe-cleaner hats and mixed up 46 original cocktails, a TDN record. Dan Warner, Beefeater’s brand ambassador, stopped by to answer some questions and participate in the chat, and it was both educational and a treat to have him join us.

Winning Cocktail

The poll was close this week, but Jake Parrott emerged the winner. The vigorous molasses flavor of Coruba rum matches so well with Beefeater. It was a curious mix, but clearly delicious.

Chip Shop Punch

• 1 1/2oz Beefeater gin
• 1/2oz Rothman & Winter Apricot
• 1/4oz Coruba rum
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 1/2oz simple syrup
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Swizzle with an enormity of crushed ice and ring it with straws, as everyone will ask for a sip.

Jake Parrott

Featured Cocktails

The Mixoloseum Twitter page has a full list Beefeater gin libations from the evening, but here are a few highlights:

Role Model

• 1 1/2oz Beefeater gin
• 3/4oz cognac
• 1/4oz Cherry Heering
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1t simple syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters

Shake with ice, but make sure to first don your favorite super hero costume. Strain, using a batarang as your julep strainer.

Matt from RumDood.com

Terminus

• 2oz Beefeater gin
• 1/2oz green Chartreuse
• 1/2oz grapefruit juice
• 1/4oz maraschino liqueur
• 1/4oz honey syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters

Shake with cracked ice and strain over fresh ice into a svelte glass.

Gabe from cocktailnerd

BeDamned

• 2oz Beefeater gin
• 1/2oz Licor 43
• 1/4oz lemon juice
• 1/4oz Campari
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 6 drops Herbsaint

Shake with crushed ice and pour, unhindered, into a saucer rimmed with gemstones. Cuz Blair needs some Blingy.

Blair from Trader Tiki

The Tristessa

• 1 1/2oz Beefeater gin
• 1/2oz Pommeau de Normandie
• 1 dash Marteau absinthe
• 1 dash Caol Isla Scotch
• 1 dash simple syrup

Shake with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an entire apple on the rim. Really, try it.

Jim and Paul at Vessel

You’ll be Hungry 1 Hour Later

• 1 1/2oz Beefeater gin
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1/2oz falernum
• 1/4oz orange juice
• orange wedge
• 1 dash sesame oil

Muddle the orange wedge and sesame oil, add remaining ingredients, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Cross your fingers, and take a sip.

cocktails-a-peel

Need more detail? Check out last week’s transcript.

Tikidrinks tends to have funny and mystical names that sparks your imagination- Shrunken Skull, Suffering Bastard, Polynesian Paralyzis, Zombie, Planet of the Apes, Last Rites, Mystic Lamp etc) and i think one of the most interesting names is the Missionary´s downfall.

Where and how it was named i don`t know, but i guess it must have been provocative to some. It was made by Don the Beachcomber in cirka 1948. The name of this drink was also changed to Missionary´s Doom in the cocktail menu of the newly opened Mai-Kai in 1956 in Fort Lauderdale at that time serving about 1000 customers a night. It`s one of the tastiest tikidrinks out there and is one of my favorites.

Its also one of the first tikidrinks i made for some reason. I first found it in Grog Log (page 52) I think what makes it so fresh tasting is the combination of fresh mint, fresh pineapple and peach brandy paired with a good white rum. The recipe calls for light Puerto Rican rum  but that can be subbed with another good white rum.

MISSIONARY`S DOWNFALL

4 whole fresh sprigs of mint

1/2 slice fresh pineapple

1.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.5 oz peach brandy

1/4 oz simple syrup

1 oz white rum

Strip mint leaves from sprigs and discard stems. Place leaves in blender with all other ingredients and 14 ounces of crushed ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into a hurricane glass or tall tiki mug. This drink is a dream of freshness and its light as opposed to many other tikidrinks which are very strong. (not that i mind those…)

Okole maluna!

This week, I got the chance to take a vacation in Hawaii and lucky for you (or maybe not), a laptop joined our trip at the last minute. So here is my quick and extremely subjective impression of drinking here on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Drinking in Hawaii

Bars in Hawaii are pretty similar to mainland bars, except maybe for the gorgeous sea views and general lack of walls.  I get the impression that locals primarily drink beer. While a lot of rum is on sale in the local stores, I think most of that gets poured into Coke. Visitors appear to want one or more of the following: whatever they have at home, something luxurious to celebrate being in Hawaii, and/or something tropical.  And by tropical, I mean rum and fruit. Of the ‘burgeoning cocktail culture’, there were no traces to be found. But then again, the Big Island is not where I would look if I was serious about finding it. The big city- Honolulu, on Oahu- would be much more likely to reflect mainland trends.

Don the Beachcomber

Before leaving home, I checked with my tiki sources (OK, TraderTiki and critiki) and turned up nothing of tiki interest to visit on the Big Island. So imagine my heart-warming surprise (and dread) when finding a listing in a guide book for Don the Beachcomber’s Mai Tai Bar at the Royal Kona Resort!  Having honeymooned at the Royal Kona some years ago, I knew where this was, and also knew that any bar would be better than what had been there.  Rum and sour mix Mai Tai, anyone? Donn Beach himself was clearly not involved in this new endeavor, having died in 1989.  We had to see and drink for ourselves.

We got there before sunset and snagged two house Mai Tais, which turned out to be pretty decent. The “Don’s Original Mai Tai” was made with Bacardi 8 rum, orgeat, curacao, mystery fruit juice and a float of Whaler’s dark rum. The menu claimed the fruit included lime, but it tasted primarily of pineapple. They repeatedly claim on their logo and advertising that Donn Beach invented the original Mai Tai. I thought that the controversy over who invented the Mai Tai had been settled in Trader Vic’s favor, but it lives on, at least on the internet and here.

We flagged down a manager and asked for the story. Turns outs that a bunch of resort manager types had been walking around their Lahaina property and passed one of the old, boarded-up Don the Beachcomber restaurants. They decided to revive the legend and bought the rights to use the name. They redecorated the existing bar and restaurant at the Royal Kona Resort, which both have gorgeous wide open surfside views of the sunset over Kailua Bay. For you tiki-philes, yes, they have gone ahead with full tiki décor. There are Hawaiian style tiki heads placed around the bar, a trio of floor-to-ceiling concrete tiki idols in the center of the main grill room there, and a plethora of tiki torches lighting up the surf around the lanai. I apologize for the lack of photos; my digital camera is one casualty of this trip.

Moving through the menu, we tried the Don’s Plantation Mai Tai and the Tiki Tai. The Plantation had orgeat, apricot brandy, a potent blend of dark and light rums (Bacardi white, Whaler’s Dark, and two other unidentified rums) and fresh squeezed lime juice. (Hand squeezed from the garnish wedges for some reason). The Tiki Tai was very similar to the Original, but used a big dollop of very fine shaved ice. The rest of the menu features about 6 Mai Tais, as well as Navy Grog and a Scorpion. After that it veers into such crowd-pleasers as a Chocolate Martini and a Ginger Mango Martini.  The fact that happy hour prices coincide with a glorious Hawaiian sunset makes these forgivable. And Don the Beachcomber has a much better Mai Tai than I expected to find on this Big Island vacation.

Cherry Heering has been produced in Denmark since 1818 to an original secret recipe handed down through five generations, and is the original “Cherry Brandy.”

The cherries – a special strain of cherry is used – the small, dark Stevens Cherry which has been evolved from an ancient variety still to be found growing wild in parts of Denmark, are pressed together with stones to create a unique cherry taste, and then placed in wooden casks with more spirit added together with spices. No artificial flavours or colouring is used. In order to ensure that the rich taste of the cherries is maximized, the blend needs to rest and circulate for several months. 3-5 years later the product will be bottled.

As i really love cherries it isn`t hard for me to like this product especially since it really is of a very good quality. I find the taste just sweet enough, its deep,warm and rounded with a very pleasant cherry flavor. It`s an essential ingredient in the Singapore Sling and Blood and Sand cocktails. And Blood and Sand is a cocktail which is a favorite of mine, so here it is :

BLOOD AND SAND

This drink has got its name from the film starring Rudolf Valentino as a bullfighter,in 1922. Its served at Tiki Ti with a top pouring of tequila while the crowd led by one of the Mikes yells toro toro tooooorooo..

I wanted to try that (the tequila part) but if I sit here at home yelling toro, toro, toro while pouring a drink I`m not sure how the people here would react. I could be thrown out head first.

For my Blood and Sand I decided to try my Yamazaki 10, wonderfully inspired by my friend Chris who used Yamazaki 12 in his version of this drink. And blood oranges…I just love them! and of course I want to use them as much as I can while they still are in season.

* 1 ounce Yamazaki 10
* 1 ounce fresh-squeezed blood-orange juice
* ¾ ounce Cherry Heering
* ¾ ounce sweet vermouth
* splash tequila

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with a little splash of tequila. Garnish with pineapple and a brandied cherry.

It tasted great with the Yamazaki and the tequila topping, very interesting. I will definetily make more of these. For garnish I used a pineapple/brandied cherry garnish lazily strewn on top of the foam, mmmm…

Inspired by Blood and Sand i made another little cocktail that i call Cherry and Sand which also was a part of the float themed TDN a while ago.

CHERRY AND SAND

1 oz Bourbon
1 oz dark Jamaican rum
¾ oz Cherry Heering
0.5 tsp simple syryp
Top with Lemon Soda
Float Lemon Hart 151

Shake over ice and servi with crushed ice in a highball glass, garnish with fresh mint.

To round it up i made a tiki drink, a version of the Aloha cocktail:

ALOHA COCKTAIL #2

This cocktail is based on the Aloha cocktail page 55 in Sippin Safari.The original recipe uses 151 Bacardi rum and light Puerto Rican rum. I switched the Angostura bitters for their orange bitters, used hibiscus grenadine and upped the orange juice to 1 oz from 0.5. Apart from that its the same recipe as in the book.

0.5 oz white rum
0.5 oz JWray overproof
1.0 oz fresh orange juice
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz Cherry Heering
0.5 oz hibiscus grenadine
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters

Shake and strain into a ice filled glass. Garnish cherry and pineapple leaves or pineapple slice. This cocktail went down way too easily, its really tasty.