Here’s to swimmin’ with bow-legged women.

Well,we’re halfway through Sharkfest,but there’s still plenty more to watch. And plenty more sharky Tiki drinks to mix up. Enjoy!

Mix #206 Luau Room Shark Tooth

1.5oz Tanduay rum*
1/2oz sloe gin
1oz lemon juice
1oz passionfruit syrup
1-2oz club soda

Shake everything except soda and pour into Mai Tai glass. Top with soda.

*I used Coruba.

This is the recipe used in the Luau Room bar of the Hotel del Coronado in the 1950’s and 60’s. It’s light and sweet with a gin finish. An excellent summer drink.

I finally picked up some sloe gin which is much sweeter than other gins,and now I’ll have to go back over some of my mixings that were supposed to use it and redo them. It really changes the character of the drink,so if a recipe calls for it instead of regular gin,you should use the correct stuff. It’s also not bad to make a gin ‘n tonic.

Mix #207 Mai-Kai Shark Bite

1oz Plantation 5yr Barbados rum
1oz Appleton Estate 12yr rum
1/2oz lime juice
1/oz pineapple juice
1/2oz rich(2:1) simple syrup
1/8oz cinnamon syrup

Rinse a rocks glass with water and freeze to create an ice shell.
Shake everything except Appleton with ice until frothy. Add crushed ice to glass and strain mix in.
Serve Appleton on side and pour in as a float.

Ok,so I just shook everything with ice and put it in a glass,and it turned out just fine. This is the Mai-Kai’s take on the Shark Bite. It’s got a sweet/tart blend with just of touch of cinnamon on the end. A nice drink,but it really didn’t stand out enough to me to put it in regular rotation.

Mix #208 Blue Water White Death

2oz silver tequila
3/4oz Cointreau
3/4oz blue curacao
1/2oz lime juice
1/2oz simple syrup
few drops grenadine

Shake everything except grenadine with ice and pour into Mai Tai glass. Add a few drops of grenadine to look like blood in the water.

So I found a recipe going around the internet for a ‘shark attack margarita’. It was a kitschy drink where you pour grenadine into way too much sweet and sour mix from a plastic shark. I tweaked the recipe and it started out ok until the grenadine kicked in,then it turned out almost undrinkable. Now,there was a ’70’s movie called ‘Blue Water,White Death’ that was supposed to be a great white shark documentary,and that was also a hot mess. So I decided to fix this drink and name it after the movie to try and redeem both. The drink is a pretty bright turquoise with the grenadine giving it the ‘blood in the water’ look,and the tequila gives it plenty of bite. It’s very tequila forward,so use the good stuff(I used 1800) with a light taste that goes back and forth between tart and sweet. Only use about six to eight drops of grenadine;too much and it will overwhelm the drink and make it too sweet. And remember the old reel,“one tequila,two tequila,three tequila,floor”;this drink will sneak up and bite you like a great white hitting a seal.

So enjoy Sharkfest folks,and have fun at the beach.