Tiki drinks are making a big comeback, and this includes the blue ones which have been so despised in past years. Unlike the seventies through the nineties where bars threw together cheap rum, bottled mixers and tossed in a pineapple chunk and cherry, bartenders today are getting into the old style Tiki cocktails from the first days of Don the Beachcomber's and Trader Vic's.
Back in the late 1940's and 1950's the godfathers of Tiki cocktails like Harry Yee (of the Hawaiian Village Hotel, creator of the first Tiki cocktail and inventor of the Blue Hawaii), Ernest Gantt (aka Donn Beach of Don the Beachcombers) and Victor Bergeron (of Trader Vic fame) employed fresh juices, great syrups like Falernum and Orgeat and good quality rums to create rich, complex cocktails worthy of the Tiki culture. Between these three, despite the bickering of who created what, most of the original Tiki cocktail recipes sailed in from the islands to the shores of the haole.
I have always been fond of Tiki cocktails because I enjoy sweet, fruity cocktails on occasion, they make me feel like I'm on vacation. Another thing I like is a well garnished drink and Tiki cocktails are accessorized like a two dollar hooker, they have more bling than a Las Vegas showgirl. This new Tiki resurgence is a boon to someone like me. So I had to go there and I'm taking you with me!
This drink is a combination of two Tiki classics, the Pina Colada and the Blue Hawaii. Thanks to a little trick with some ice sphere molds it starts out as a Banana Pina Colada and slowly morphs into a Blue Hawaii. The only changes I made were adding a banana to the Pina Colada (because I had a banana on hand) as well as a bit of Orgeat syrup and lowering the ratio of rum in the Blue Hawaii so it would freeze. The rest of the transformation is taken care of by nature!
The
SNEAKY TIKI COLADA
BLUE HAWAII ICE SPHERES
1/2 Oz. Appleton Extra 12 Dark Rum
1 Oz. Bols Blue Curaçao
1/2 Oz Coco Lopez Creme de Coconut
1/4 Oz. Orgeat syrup
2 Oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice
1 Oz. Water
Freeze mixture in ice sphere(s) overnight.
BANANA PINA COLADA
3 Oz. Pineapple juice,
1-1/2 Oz. Cruzan Light Rum
1/2 Oz. Appleton Extra 12 Dark Rum
1 Oz. Coco Lopez Creme de Coconut
1/2 Fresh Banana
4 Ice Cubes
Blend everything until smooth and creamy.
To build the drink:
Add the Blue Hawaii ice sphere to a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Pour the Banana Pina Colada around then over until the sphere is covered. Garnish with a banana slice or pineapple slice or both, a couple of cherries for a pop of color then add a fun cocktail umbrella. If you have an edible orchid add it too! With Tiki drinks, less is not more!
The fun happens when the Blue Hawaii slowly melts into your Sneaky Tiki Colada and not only changes the color but becomes an entirely different cocktail as it slowly dissolves.
It was hot and muggy from storms that were crawling up from the Gulf of Mexico. Thanks to the humid heat all I wanted was something tall, cool and refreshing and a moment to sit out on my deck and watch the storm clouds roll in. I had a few strawberries in my little deck garden, I always have fresh basil in the summertime and I had vodka and tonic water.
Muddle, mix, pour, garnish, done.
STRAWBERRY BASIL
VODKA TONIC
INGREDIENTS:
1-1/2 Oz. Vodka
4 Strawberries, sliced
3 Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp. Sugar
Tonic water
GARNISH
Basil Sprig
Strawberry
TOOLS
Jigger, Measuring spoons, Muddler, Collins glass.
DIRECTIONS
In the bottom of the your glass muddle the strawberries, basil leaves, sugar and vodka.
Fill your glass with crushed ice and top off with tonic.
Give your cocktail a good stir to chill and garnish with a fresh strawberry, the basil sprig and enjoy.
Today is the final race in the Triple Crown of American Horse Racing, the Belmont Stakes. The winner of the Triple Crown must win, in succession, The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and, finally, The Belmont Stakes in order to take home this jewel of American horse racing. Thousands upon thousands attend all three races and thousands upon thousands of attendees drink cocktails at each race.
Since Belmont can't seem to settle on any single drink for too long, I've decided to take a little from all three recipes Belmont and create my own libation for the Belmont Stakes.
The original Belmont cocktail, the White Carnation, was almost an alcoholic Creamsicle with vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice with a splash of cream and soda. The Belmont Breeze features bourbon, orange and cranberry juices plus a splash of sherry, while the Belmont Jewel is bourbon, lemonade and pomegranate juice.
What I have come up with takes a little from all three; some bourbon, a little sherry, orange juice, some egg white for texture and a lovely froth, and a bit of pomegranate (Grenadine) to add a little color and a little more sweetness. Then I add a dash of orange bitters and garnish with an orange twist.
It's Negroni Week and I can't let it go by without doing my version. You know me, I cannot let well enough alone and a classic Negroni is very "well enough" with it's perfect ratio of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari nicely garnished with an orange peel. But you've seen a ton of that classic recipe this week so why not try it with a little Martini Diva twist?
I didn't do much meddling with the classic Negroni, just added a few blackberries and switched out the sweet vermouth for Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth. Punt e Mes translates to "point and a half" in Piedmontese*, referring to the flavor being one point of sweetness and half a point of bitterness. It is more bitter than sweet vermouth and, I think, balances nicely with the extra sweetness from the blackberries. Then I used 209 Gin because I think the citrus and floral botanicals complement the blackberries.
Now I know a lot of you like your happy hour sweet, as do I, most of the time. I have a gigantic sweet tooth even when it comes to my drinks, but a walk on the wild side of the bitter truth of imbibing is a wonderful change and suits the palate occasionally. It perks up those taste buds and refreshes a sip at a time. Just keep your perking and refreshing to one or two of these, they're powerful magic!
Ready to take that walk on the wild side?? Then get your bitter booze set and go:
The
BLACKBERRY
NEGRONI
INGREDIENTS:
8 Blackberries
1 Oz. 209 Gin
1 Oz. Campari
1 Oz. Punt e Mes
Orange Peel
TOOLS: Mixing glass, Bar spoon, Julep strainer, Mesh strainer, Old Fashioned glass
DIRECTIONS:
Place 7 of the blackberries in your mixing glass and muddle.
Add your gin, the Campari and the Punt e Mes then fill the mixing glass with ice.
Stir and double strain into your chilled glass.
Express the oils of your orange peel over the drink, rub around the rim, twist and drop the peel in the glass. Garnish with the last blackberry and enjoy.
I love cocktails with eggs in them, specifically egg whites! Oh, don't cringe, egg whites give a cocktail a wonderful mouth feel by adding a lovely silken texture as well as body and they add no flavor at all! You get a nifty little kick of protein too. Additionally, egg whites create these marvelous foams (if properly shaken) on top of the cocktail that make for a really beautiful presentation.
If you happen to be vegan don't despair, there is a perfectly vegan substitute for using eggs in cocktails called aquafaba. Believe it or not, aquafaba is the liquid that garbanzo beans, or chickpeas as some people call them, are cooked or canned in. You'll see I used aquafaba in my New York Sour recipe below.
Since June 3rd is National Egg Day I thought it would be fun to chat about how to make egg cocktails and also round up links to my favorite egg drinks in one post.
Nogs, Flips, Sours, Fizzes
These are the four types of alcoholic beverages that employ eggs. Nogs always employ a milk product along with whole eggs while Flips may or may not include some milk or cream with the egg. Sours don't have to use eggs at all but when they do it's only egg whites. Fizzes can use whites, yolks and whole eggs and are categorized as Silver Fizzes (whites), Golden Fizzes (yolks), or Royal Fizzes (whole eggs) and include some type of soda.
Tips for Whipping Up Egg Cocktails
To get the marvelous foam and to emulsify the egg white into the cocktail you will want to apply a dry shake technique (shake without ice) to your ingredients, then shake again with ice to chill. Think of how a meringue is created then apply that concept to a cocktail shaker instead of your KitchenAid or hand mixer. You really have to give that egg white a lot of agitation in order to break down the protein and add air for fluffiness, a couple of minutes at least*. Frankly, I don't have the stamina so I cheat and use a stand or immersion blender for my dry shake step then transfer my drink to an ice filled shaker to chill. I get some seriously great mounds of foam with this technique.
Egg foams, when properly executed, are quite sturdy (my Tangelo Bourbon Tango actually trapped a bee!) and those foams can support cool garnishes like flowers, herb leaves, spices and even stencilled designs.
You can create a flavored foam separately from the cocktail. I created a Cognac foam for my above mentioned Tangelo Bourbon Tango and for my Meringue Island Punch I actually baked the foam (aka meringue cookies)! You can even make a full on merinque, spoon it on a cocktail and torch it like I sometimes do for my Lemon Meringue Pie Martini.
Occasionally an egg foam can carry a very slight raw egg smell and a useful little trick when making your egg cocktail is to add an aromatic mist, a dusting of spice, a twist of citrus or a few drops of bitters on top of the foam to mask possibility of a raw egg smell disturbing the enjoyment of the cocktail.
Another little tip? Fresh, cold eggs are much easier to hand separate. Buying pasteurized egg whites, yolks or whole eggs requires no separation on your part but you will have to measure.
Fresh versus Pasteurized, Part or Whole?
You'll notice my recipes mostly call for pasteurized eggs. This is a precaution on my part because, though the chance of salmonella poisoning from eggs is fairly rare these days, it never hurts to be cautious. A fresh egg, properly cleaned and stored, does give a slightly better foam than pasteurized eggs but not by much as far as I can tell, so either option will give you a lovely cocktail.
You'll also notice most of my recipes below use only egg whites. This is a personal preference as I'm not that fond of the overly rich, heavy nature of yolks in my cocktails except in some type of Nog during the holidays. Plus yolks DO add a bit of their flavor which needs some refined taste balancing and libations with yolks are way more fattening.
Have an eggstra lovely National Egg Day and Cheers, M'Dears!
* Probably the most famous egg cocktail, the Ramos Gin Fizz, has a great historical back story about requiring a 12 to 15 minute shake to be properly prepared, at least according to its creator, Henry C. Ramos. It's said that during the hey day of this cocktail, lines of shaker boys were employed solely to shake Ramos fizzes for the clamoring masses! Just think what a Vitamix would have meant to bars back in those days.
Celebrating the birthday of American actor, director and all around cool guy, Clint Eastwood.
I have had a crush on Clint Eastwood since his days of playing Rowdy on Rawhide. I followed him from the American Old West right over to Italy for his roles as "The Man With No Name" in his Spaghetti westerns, adored him as Dirty Harry and was beguiled by him in Beguiled, and feared for him in Play Misty for Me. I cheered when he won Best Director for Unforgiven, cried at his lost love in Bridges of Madison County and thoroughly enjoyed Space Cowboys.
I've seen most of his television roles, and every film he's starred in and/or directed. I've also enjoyed his music as a composer, musician and, yes, as a singer - I confess to still hoarding the soundtrack to Paint My Wagon because of his rendition of I Talk To The Trees.
JULEP: from the Arabic julāb or Persian gulāb, julep translates to rose water.
First Use: 14th century
Originally a medicinal cure for stomach ailments, the Mint Julep is a particularly American drink favored highly in the South as a cool, refreshing summer cocktail. Though originally it could be made with Cognac, brandy, gin or whiskey the most common modern version is made with Bourbon.
The Mint Julep is the official drink of The Kentucky Derby where over 100,000 are served up to racegoers each year. In recent years, however, a commercially pre-mixed substitute served up in a plastic cup has been offered up in place of a true Mint Julep. This is understandable because of the multitudes being served, but it's not the singular experience of getting a hand-crafted, ice domed Mint Julep served to you in a dew frosted silver tumbler.
As a member of the Smash family of drinks, a real Julep consists of fresh mint leaves, spirit, sugar, and water (ice) and is constructed by first muddling the mint and sugar in a glass (traditionally a Julep Cup), filling the cup with crushed ice, adding the spirit (traditionally Bourbon), then mounding a bit more crushed ice over the top and garnishing with a fresh mint sprig. Spearmint is the preferred herb, though peppermint can be used.
The
Classic
MINT JULEP
Recipe
INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 Oz. Bourbon
4 Fresh Mint Leaves
2 Sugar Cubes
Teaspoon of Water
Crushed Ice
Garnish
Fresh Mint Sprig
DIRECTIONS
Add the sugar cubes, mint leaves and water to the bottom of a proper mint julep cup.
Muddle to release the mint oils and dissolve the sugar cubes.
Fill the cup completely with crushed ice.
Add the bourbon and stir until the cup frosts over then top off with more crushed ice.
Garnish with the fresh mint sprig and serve.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:
Below are some of my happy hour riffs on this classic Southern libation.
