Ok,Thanksgiving is over,it’s black Friday,and now we can start getting into Xmas mode. Here’s a tasty cocktail to brighten your spirits,or deaden the pain of shopping.
Mix #105 Winter Fling
4oz apple cider 1oz white rum 1/2oz cognac 1/4oz allspice 1/4oz Aperol 1/4oz lemon juice
Shake with ice and pour into Mai Tai glass.
From Tiki Farm’s site comes a Trader Tom creation that is pretty much Yuletide in a glass. It’s very cider-y with a spice finish. Delicious,and you can up-gun it with Wray & Nephew Overproof if necessary.
Happy holidays folks! Don’t worry,it’ll be over soon.
Ginger is a plant whose root has been used for centuries as a spice and in folk medicine. The philosopher Confucius was said to eat ginger with every meal. Today we bake it into cookies and houses for the holiday season. We also make it into the soda ginger beer,which makes for a spicy Tiki drink. Here’s a few to enjoy.
Mix #101 Dark and Stormy
2oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum 1/2oz lime juice ginger beer to fill
Pour rum and lime juice into glass with ice. Add ginger beer to fill and swizzle.
Invented over a hundred years ago at Bermuda’s Royal Naval Officer’s Club,this cocktail is found in many non-Tiki bars and is the national drink of Bermuda. The ‘correct’ way to make it is with Gosling’s rum and their ginger beer. If you don’t have Gosling’s,you can use most dark rums(‘black’ rums work best),but you need to use ginger beer and not ginger ale or it won’t turn out right. It’s simple and spicy and goes down smooth providing you can handle the burn.
Mix #102 Darth & Stormy
1/5oz Demerara rum 3/4oz lime juice 1/2oz cinnamon syrup 3oz ginger beer
Pour everything into glass with ice and stir.
BG Reynolds riff on the classic Dark and Stormy adds cinnamon syrup to the mix because ginger beer just doesn’t give enough burn. Sweet and spicy.
Mix #103 Suffering Bastard
1oz dry gin 1oz brandy 1/2oz lime juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters ginger beer to top
Shake everything except beer with ice and pour into mug. Top with ginger beer.
Not originally a Tiki drink,it’s been embraced by the Tiki world and even had a Trader Vic’s mug named after it(see above). It was supposedly invented in Cairo,Egypt as ‘hangover cure’ for British soldiers(hair of the dog plus ginger beer to settle the stomach). A 1947 Esquire article credits bartender Joel Scialom at the Hotel Shepard. He supposedly named it the “Suffering Bar Steward”,and it somehow morphed into Suffering Bastard. Trader Vic’s had a rum drink of the same name,but it wasn’t popular and faded into history. It has a gin start with a ginger burn finish. Drink enough of these and you’ll have to find your own hangover cure.
Mix #65 Fizzy Rum & Gin
1oz Plantation Isle of Fiji rum 1oz Citadelle gin 1/2oz lime juice 1/4oz simple syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters 4oz ginger beer
Shake everything except ginger beer with ice. Pour ginger beer into tall glass,strain mix into glass,then top with some pellet ice.
From the 13 Nights of Tiki Frights in 2022,this is a riff on the Dark and Stormy that adds the classiness of gin.
Mix #104 Guardian Idol Cocktail
3oz dark Jamaican rum 4oz pineapple juice 1.5oz lime juice 1/2oz orgeat 2oz ginger beer
Shake everything except beer with ice and pour into mug. Add ginger beer and stir.
Created by Home Aloha for their Tiki mug of the same name,it’s sweet and pineapple-y with a ginger burn at the end. A big drink with lots of kick,I liked it enough to add to my regular roster of mixings.
So enjoy the burn with these delicious cocktails. There’s just something special about ginger.
Well,here it is folks,the completion of my first century of Tiki mixings. I picked a special drink for this,it’s not only potent,but is also served in a pineapple. It’s called the Boo Loo,and was created by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry,the famous Tiki drink expert.
To properly make the drink,you need to core out a pineapple to serve it in. I borrowed a corer from a friend,but you can find them online or in grocery stores for under ten bucks. To core the pineapple,follow the directions that come with it. Do not core all the way down,however,leave about two to three inches intact so you won’t have to worry about leakage. You will also want to make sure you cut the top parallel to the ground so that it will sit flat and not slide off while drinking from it,and cut a small slot in the edge of the top for your straw. Finally,you’ll want to freeze the pineapple overnight. This will not only keep the drink colder,but it makes the shell rigid so it’s a better mug. Save at least two pineapple rings for the recipe,you can use the rest for garnish or eating,or squeeze it for the juice.
Now that you have your drinking vessel,let’s get to the recipe.
Mix #100 Boo Loo
1.5oz gold Puerto Rican rum 1.5oz Demerara rum 3/4oz Lemon Hart 151 Demerara rum 3/4oz dark Jamaican rum 2.5oz pineapple juice 1.5oz lime juice 1.25oz honey syrup 1.5oz club soda 2 pineapple rings
Put everything except soda into blender and blend until smooth. Pour into pineapple shell and top with club soda and ice. Put top back on and insert straw.
So Beachbum is a mad genius. Despite all that rum,you barely taste it,you just taste pineapple. But you will feel it. In fact,I only drank about half the drink,and stored the rest for the next day. This will mess you up,and all that sugar and rum will give you a hangover if you’re not careful. This really should be a drink you share with at least one other person. It is absolutely delicious though,which is why it can get you into trouble as it goes down so easy that you won’t feel it until it’s too late. This drink is like a firecracker in that it’s fun as long as you’re careful.
Well there you go folks,one hundred mixings. Stay tuned as I go for two hundred. Aloha and mahalo!
All good things must come to an end,and this includes the spooky Halloween season. With the passing of Samhain,it’s time to get back to mixing regular cocktails. Well,maybe just one more spooky one.
Mix #96 Voodoo
2oz aged dark rum 2.5oz apple juice 3/4oz sweet vermouth 1/2oz lime juice 1/4oz rich simple syrup(2:1)
Shake with ice and strain into glass with fresh ice.
A sweetish,funky drink. Very nice. I made a second version I dubbed the Black Voodoo with Demerara rum,apple cider,and Demerara syrup. It was funkier and sweeter. A nice Autumn drink.
And now,back to the regular cocktails.
Mix #97 ‘Vintage Mai Tai’
1.5oz light rum 1.5oz gold rum 1/2oz 151 rum 2oz guava juice 1oz orgeat 1/2oz lemon juice 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz curacao
Shake everything except 151 with ice and pour into glass. Float 151 on top.
This was found on an index card with a bunch of other recipes by a Facebook poster. I needed to use up the last of my guava so I figured what the heck. It actually wasn’t bad,but it was quite strong. If you want something sweeter than a Zombie,but with Zombie kick,give it a shot.
I’ve also been able to catch up on some of my reading,and the following are from the Tiki magazine Exotica Moderne,published by House of Tabu.
Mix #98 Deep Six
4oz Coruba dark rum 1oz Hamilton 151 Demerara rum 2.5oz Latitude 29 formula falernum 2oz pineapple juice 2oz lime juice 1.25oz St Elizabeth allspice dram
Shake with ice and pour into Tiki bowl with two or more straws.
From issue #20 comes a Beachbum Berry drink created for his Deep Six Tiki bowl. Now,being a bachelor,I’m flying solo,so I halved the ingredients to make it single person friendly. Very spicy,with the falernum and allspice coming forward. If you want to get your date drunk,let them sip most of it. And if you wind up drinking most of it,then you know they’re trying to get you drunk.
Mix #99 The Retro Cocktail Hour Cocktail
1.5oz Jamaican aged rum(Appleton Estate) 1/2oz blackberry liqueur 1/2oz Pierre Ferrand dry orange curacao 3/4oz orange juice 3/4oz lime juice 1/2oz orgeat
Shake with ice and strain into Zombie glass with fresh ice.
From issue #21,this was created by Diana Condori of the now closed Tiki Cat in Kansas City,Kansas for the KPR Retro Cocktail Hour,a radio show that’s been on the air for 27yrs and recently passed 1000 episodes. A nice,sweet,easy drinking cocktail that would be perfect for kicking back and listening to exotica. Another good one that I’ve placed into my roster of regular mixes.
Well,that’s all for this week. I’m up to 99 mixings,wonder if number one hundred will be anything special? Stay tuned to find out.
Happy Halloween!
It’s finally here,the spookiest night of the year! Here’s a pair of cocktails to give you the courage to watch all those scary movies(and deal with the kids coming to your door).
Mix #94 Skull & Bones
1.5oz Lemon Hart 151 rum 1/2oz Bacardi Gran Reserva Diez rum 3/4oz lime juice 1/2oz passionfruit syrup 1/2oz grenadine 1/8tsp Pernod* 1 dash Angostura bitters
Shake with ice and pour into your spookiest mug.
*About 12 drops.
Boo! This is a sweet drink with a slight tangy/licorice finish. It’s easy to drink,and with one and a half ounces of 151,you won’t be scared of anything.
Mix #95 Season of the Witch
2oz dark rum 1oz apple cider 1/2oz Cointreu 1/2oz lime juice 1/4oz Skinny Syrups pumpkin caramel syrup*
Shake with plenty of ice and serve in Mai Tai glass.
*If you don’t have this syrup,you can sub caramel syrup or any similar ‘Autumn flavor’ syrup.
I picked up the pumpkin caramel syrup to play with making an Autumn Mai Tai. This is what I came up with. The Skull & Bones was your Trick,this one’s your Treat,a Giltron original recipe. A nice sweet/sour balance with a caramel aftertaste. I think you’ll enjoy it,but then I am a bit biased.
2oz Plantation 3 Star rum 1/2oz Mathilde Peche 1/2oz grenadine 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz lemon juice* 2 dashes orange bitters
Combine everything except grenadine and shake with ice. Pour into glass and float grenadine on top.
*The pic on the site says 1.2oz,but I confirmed it’s only supposed to be ½.
Very tart with a peach finish. I wound up adding more grenadine to finish. If you like sour drinks,this is for you.
Well,Halloween is almost here,so gotta drop the Elvira gifs while I can.
Boo!
Time for a couple more spooky Tiki drinks to enhance your Halloween season.
Mix #90 Rum & Bones
1oz Appleton Estate 8yr rum 1oz Plantation OFTD rum 1oz lime juice 1/2oz Averna* 1/2oz fassionola red 1/2oz Demerara syrup
Shake with ice and pour into double old fashion glass.
*I used homemade Amaro di Angostura.
This was created by Nathan Robinson for the Mixel Cocktails app. A sweet drink with a slight bitter finish. Be careful with this one,it’s easy to drink and the OFTD will catch up with you.
Mix #91 Innsmouth Fogcutter
2oz light rum 1/2oz gin 1oz blackberry brandy 2oz lemon juice 1oz orange juice 1/2oz orgeat 1/2oz spiced rum
Shake everything except spiced rum with ice and pour into mug. Float spiced rum on top.
This was created by Horror in Clay for their Tiki mug of the same name. Their recipe called for Broken Heart spiced rum,but that stuff’s expensive,so I used Sugar Island. The brandy and lemon juice really come forward to give it a strong berry-lemonade taste. A good drink for Lovecraft enthusiasts.
2oz Plantation Original Dark rum 1oz lime juice 1/2oz Mathilde cassis 1/4oz grenadine
Shake with ice and pour into glass.
Meh. This was surprisingly sour. I actually added some Demerara syrup to finish it. If you like sour give it a try,but it didn’t do it for me. Sign up for the mug giveaway,watch the podcast,and save your rum for the next recipe.
What’s in a name?
How could a drink named the Sunnyside Cocktail be in any way spooky? When it’s named after the home of Washington Irving. Presenting tSfT’s latest 13 Nights of Tiki Frights cocktail.
Mix #88 Sunnyside Cocktail
1oz Plantation Fiji rum 1oz Plantation Original Dark rum 1.5oz lime juice 1.5oz orange juice 1.5oz passionfruit syrup 2oz seltzer
Blend everything except seltzer with ice. Pour into glass and top with seltzer.
A very nice balance of sweet and tart. Easy to drink.
Giltron's Mixings 