Pink Sand Cocktail

The credit for this drink goes to Justin of Tucker Point Resort in Bermuda, where my wife and some of her friends discovered it on a recent trip. It's a sweet rummy concoction that matches the pink sand of the island -- hence the name he gave it on the fly.

Pink Sand Cocktail

1 oz banana rum
1 oz mango rum
1 oz pineapple rum
1 oz dragon berry rum
1 oz Rose's lime juice
Splash of grenadine

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Because I am unable to leave any cocktail recipe alone, I swapped fresh lime juice for the Rose's and finished the drink with a healthy pour of champage -- either rose for a deeper pink color, or brut to balance the sweetness of the other ingredients.

Sea Foam

Another southwest Florida creation, frothy and particularly inspired by the sea, and not to mention a foray into the time honored technique of using egg white for body in a cocktail.

Sea Foam

2 1/2 oz white rum

1 oz triple sec

Grapefruit soda

1 egg white

1 oz creme de cassis

1 oz simple syrup

Shake rum and triple sec with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. In a separate glass or bowl, whip egg white, creme de cassis and simple syrup until foamy. Top rum mixture with grapefruit soda, then spoon on foam.

Beefeaters, Bludgeons and Maidens

When I twisted open a new bottle of Beefeater gin, my thoughts ran to an icy cool, shimmering, dry martini -- and I was not disappointed. Beefeater struck a satisfying balance between botanicals and dryness at a time when gins at both extremes of the spectrum are making their appearance.


Perhaps out of habit, I tend to think of gin as a fall and winter drink. Rum generally commands my summer shaker, but I needed to explore. Even the reggae radio station chided me by adding "Gin and Coconut Water" to its rotation. So, I slipped out of the current and tried some Beefeater in a tropical cocktail. The result was the Bludgeon, a spicy and citrusy cocktail of, yes, blue gin.


Bludgeon


2 oz gin (I used Beefeater)
1 oz blue curacao
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 1/2 orange
1 oz ginger syrup


Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Consider garnishing with a sugared rim and a lemon rind.


The Bludgeon is akin to the Maiden's Prayer, a cocktail I find myself pouring at least once a week. Beefeater in hand, I pressed further on my course towards new and summery gin cocktails by trying some variations. These variations were particularly delightful:


Twists on the Maiden's Prayer

Basic Recipe

1 1/2 oz gin (I used Beefeater)
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The Twists

Add a mere splash of peach schnapps or orange flower water
Pool pomegranate syrup in the bottom of the glass
Garnish with a flamed orange rind or the barest sprinkle of orange water

A Rejiggered Daiquiri

In aspring to true Hemingway style, I prefer old school daiquiris that have everything to do with fresh, rummy, citrus flavors and nothing to do with swirling and slushy machines. In other words, serve it straight up or on the rocks, and not frozen. On several occasions I've offered a batch to friends who ask (at the bottom of the glass) what they are drinking, and are surprised to hear it's a simple, traditional daiquiri. White rum works well as a base, but a mix of various rums makes this otherwise straightforward drink more complex. Fair warning -- this drink can, well, otherwise change your plans for the evening.

This recipe is in "parts" rather than ounces in case you're serving a crowd.

Happy summer!


Rejiggered Daiquiris

2 parts raspberry rum
2 parts pineapple rum
1 part gold rum
1 1/2 parts freshly squeezed lime juice
1/3 part simple syrup

Shake or stir ingredients together with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Image from stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)

A Few Rounds with Leblon Cachaca

I recently received a bottle of Leblon cachaca and was delighted to try it. I had mixed with cachaca in the past (such as in the blood orange caiprihinia), so I had a sense of the base flavor. That said, Leblon's smooth and delicate taste stood out from other cachacas. It was true to its roots -- I could pick up the sugarcane and even some earthy tones underneath. It pairs well with citrus of course, and also with ginger, as in the cocktails below.

GC Splash

2 oz Leblon cachaca
1 oz triple sec
1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice

1 oz ginger syrup

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. If you like, garnish with a splash of pomegranate syrup.

A few other ginger concoctions:

Round One

2 oz cachaca (I used Leblon)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 oz ginger syrup

Shake ingredients toegther with ice and stain into a cocktail glass. Consider garnishing with a stream of pomegranate syrup.

Round Two

2 oz cachaca (I used Leblon)
1/2 oz ginger syrup
Champagne

Shake cachaca and syrup together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with champagne.


Round Three

2 oz cachaca (I used Leblon)
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1 oz ginger syrup
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Consider garnishing with a stream of pomegranate syrup.

And now a concoction with no ginger at all.

Pine and Cane

2 oz cachaca (I used Leblon)
1 oz triple sec
1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1 oz pineapple juice

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Consider garnihsing with a stream of pomegranate syrup.

Tropical Rum Infusion

This week's neighborhood happy hour calls for an exciting drink. The hosts are tops in the kitchen and also a driving force behind the happy hour tradition. They also plan to have their own slushy rum drink. My solution -- a copious amount of light rum infused with tropical fruit. A festive pitcher teeming with fresh fruit is hard to resist (as I learned with last summer's Champagne Sangria).


It would be a shame to imbue the rum with fresh fruit only to have it upstaged by a strong mixer, so serve the infusion over ice with lemon-lime soda. Then guests can have as much flavor and kick as they like. Offer some tongs or skewers so the fruit slices can join the party too.






Tropical Rum Infusion

1 pineapple, peeled and cored

1 mango, peeled and pitted

2 oranges

4 kiwi fruit, peeled

1.75L silver rum

lemon-lime soda (optional)

Slice the fruit into shapes of your choosing -- wheels, matchsticks, arcs -- keeping slices about 1/4 inch thick to yield the most surface area for the infusion process. Arrange fruit in one or more pitchers, as needed. Slowly pour the rum over the fruit. Cover and allow to infuse for 3-4 days. Serve over ice straight or with lemon-lime soda.

Pineapple Dum-Dum

The challenge: late Wednesday, the call comes to improvise a cocktail for the neighborhood happy hour Friday evening. After a few pours and stirs, an array of candidates await -- a fizzy facsimile of a margarita, a pineapple mango mix with a submarine of 151 and a rummy clementine grog. (There might show up in later posts.) The top cocktail, though, was a refreshing drink with a taste that calls up the memory of a pineapple sucker and synchs with the tastes of the hosts.

Fortunately, they live within walking distance.

Pineapple Dum-Dum

1 oz light rum

1/2 oz Amaretto

1/2 oz creme de banana

1 oz pineapple juice

Stir ingredients together with ice in a double old-fashioned glass.

Image from stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)

Blue Turtle

As promised in Dateline Florida, the Blue Turtle cocktail surfaced in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It's blue and bubbly like the ocean -- whip up a glass to celebrate the summer.

Blue Turtle

2 oz mango rum (such as Malibu)

1 oz blue curacao

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Dry champagne

Shake liquors and juice together with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Top with champagne.

Mixology Monday -- Pineapple Mojitos

Mixology Monday: Pineapple Mojitos

Many thanks to Trader Tiki for hosting Mixology Monday, with the fun and flexible theme of rum cocktails.

I must admit, as a bona fide son of Kentucky, May gives me heady thoughts of bourbon and an obscure horse race in Louisville. In fact, I have had my hands full the last couple of weeks hosting my own Derby party. But, that has little to do with rum, and should be the subject of another post.

So, there I was, challenged by my schedule as well as my preconceptions about the season, when the Rum Gods intervened. How so? A comittee that wrote a local cookbook had a party celebrating its publication, and I was tapped to whip up a batch of my pineapple mojitos, which were included in the book. So, armed with fresh mint, my trusty muddler and a miscellany of mixology gear, I knocked out a few rounds for my friends, and even a little for myself.

Yes, yes, I know. All the Web 2.0 types will tell you, bloggers shouldn't republish. I should have bought a bottle of one or two of the dark tropical rums I have been dying to try and played with it for a night or two. But who am I to deny the will of the Rum Gods? Or the whirl of the Derby season? Or the kind requests of my friends? All that considered, I humbly link back to pineapple mojitos.

MxMo: Wintermission

Wintermission

This round of Mixology Monday (graciously hosted at Kaiser Penguin) fits my week like a glove. At work, a huge acquisition and an equally important litigation absolutely drained my free time --working past midnight every night, and missing meals, classes and workouts. I was craving a strong drink and some down time.

Now I am out of the woods. I also get the next week off to spend in Florida, and I have certainly had to earn my intermission. And now it's time to think about that drink.

The Longboat Key Iced Tea was a tempting submission, but treads dangerously close to the no-LIT rule. Looking forward to dropping a few degrees of latitude, I chose a sunny drink that had a kick lurking beneath its fruity flavors. Now let's all take a...

Wintermission

1 oz Bacardi 151 rum

1 oz raspberry rum
1 oz gold rum

1 oz creme de cassis

2 oz pineapple juice

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Clementine Margarita

This cocktail features the clementine syrup I recently posted.


Clementine Margarita

2 oz tequila
2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz clementine syrup
Juice of 1/2 lime

Stir ingredients together with ice in a salt-rimmed glass.

Blood Orange Caiprihinia

Blood Orange Caiprihinia

2 oz cachaca
1/4 blood orange
1/2 oz simple syrup

Squeeze orange into a double old-fashioned glass, then add the fruit and muddle with cachaca and syrup. Add ice and stir.

Blood Orange Margarita

Tres Margaritas

This weekend a friend from college was in town. After a decedent meal of tapas, I was in charge of keeping everyone's glass full as the conversation flowed. I started with a basic margarita on the rocks. The next round was a blood orange margarita, inspired by the sumptuous blood oranges left over from one of the tapas. That was followed by a grapefruit margarita. It was a long conversation, we had a lot of catching up to do.

Blood Orange Margarita

2 oz tequila
1 oz tripe sec
1/2 oz simple syrup
Juice of 1/2 blood orange

Stir ingredients together with ice in a highball glass rimmed with salt.

Bubbly Snowbird

A New Year's Resolution

I fear I have disappointed a friend. Stacey (as in Stacey's Vietnamese Buzzsaw) asked me what I would drink on New Year's Eve, and if I had any practical suggestions, considering that recent posts have called for a bit more hard-to-find ingredients. (Sub Rosa is working hard on that, by the way!) Unfortunately, I didn't get the e-mail until late and failed to respond.

The champagne cocktail is an easy choice this time of year, and a batch of Snowbird Rum Runner left from a dinner party last night looked inviting. They made a great pair...and I hereby just need to resolve to be more responsive in 2008.


Bubbly Snowbird

2 oz Snowbird Rum Runner
2 oz dry champage

Pour Snowbird Rum Runner into a champage flute. Top with champagne.

Mixology Monday -- Snowbird Rum Runner

Thanks to Jeffrey Morgenthaler for hosting the last MxMo of 2007, with the particularly rich theme of Repeal Day. I'll take up the offer to post an original drink inspired by the Prohibition Era.

The usual image Prohibition is a crew of revelers gathered around a bathtub of gin in a crowded urban basement. Let's not forget that while these parties were jumping in the cities, further south rum runners were smuggling rum and other liquors into the States. Considering that Prohobition Era liquors often were not, shall we say, of sipping quality, this cocktail gives a nod to the rum runner's pluck, the flavors of the season and the forgiving nature of assertive mixers.

Snowbird Rum Runner

1/2 oz white rum

1/2 oz gold rum

1/2 oz pineapple rum

1/2 oz Chambord

1/2 oz triple sec

1/2 oz pomegranate schnapps

1/4 oz grenadine

1/2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Ginger Cosmopolitan

Ginger Cosmopolitan

2 oz vodka

1 oz triple sec

Juice of 1/2 lime

Ginger beer

Shake liquors and juice together with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Top with ginger beer.

Pineapple Mojito

Concocted on the fly for visiting friends.

Pineapple Mojito

2 oz pineapple rum (such as Malibu)
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
3 small sprigs mint
1/2 oz pineapple juice
Lemon-lime soda

Muddle first three ingredients in a highball glass. Add juice. Top with ice and soda and stir.

Longboat Key Iced Tea

A sunny version of a cocktail standard. This drink is really delightful, a new favorite.

Longboat Key Iced Tea

1 oz pineapple rum
1 oz bourbon
1 oz amaretto
1 oz gold rum
Squeeze of lemon juice
Splash of Coke

Combine ingredients with ice in a highball glass.

Bubbly Sunset

Bubbly Sunset

1 1/2 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
Izze pom soda

Combine liquors and juice with ice in a highball glass. Top with soda.

Pining Away

This cocktail is inspired by some of the tropical ingredients I saw used in various bars and restaurants on my vacation to Florida's gulf coast.

Pining Away

2 oz pineapple rum (such as Malibu)
1 oz orange liqueur
1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice

Shake ingredients together with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Turbonado sugar on the rim makes an attractive garnish.