Category: Recipe

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Latitude 29 Orgeat is Back!

There were worried grumblings in some online communities for the past few weeks when it seemed like every product from Orgeat Works Ltd. was not available for sale. Orgeat Works is the Brooklyn-based producer of several cocktail syrups including our all-time favorite: Latitude 29 Orgeat.

Thankfully, there was an update today on Facebook: “Just letting everyone know OWL syrups are back in stock. Took a pause to restock and catch up on fulfillment after relocating Orgeat Works here in Brooklyn. Let the Mai Tais flow!” Our long national nightmare is over!

Latitude 29 Orgeat was developed in conjunction with Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, the proprietor of the Latitude 29 Restaurant and Bar in New Orleans, and we think this clear and floral syrup is the best. The mild almond flavor doesn’t feature any marzipan aftertaste like you get with some orgeats and is stable in the fridge for months.

We also like and recommend Orgeat Works T’Orgeat Toasted Almond Syrup if you’re looking for something both darker and bolder. Both are available now and the company is here to stay – so if something is on backorder do know that it will be available soon. Free shipping on orders of $85 or more.

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Trader Vic’s Hangover Cure: Banana Cow

I challenged Trader Vic’s Emeryville bartender Troy to make a Banana Cow, one of the Trader’s earliest cocktail hits. And boy did Troy make it great, perfectly blended and totally icy smooth to the last drop.

There are two printed recipes for the Banana Cow, which evolved to be more of a true cocktail by the 1970s.

Banana Cow (1946)
1 crushed, ripe Banana
2 level teaspoons bar Sugar
3 oz fresh whole Milk
1½ oz Puerto Rican Rum (Ron Merito, Boco Chica, or Brugal)
Plenty of Cracked Ice
“Put the mess into an electric mixer and mix the hell out of it. Pour into a large glass and have at it. No foolin’ this is a pip.”
Trader Vic’s Book of Food & Drink (1946)

Banana Cow (1972)
1 whole Banana
1 tsp bar Sugar
1 dash Vanilla (Extract)
3 oz fresh Milk
1 oz Trader Vic’s light Puerto Rican rum
1 dash Angostura Bitters
½ scoop shaved ice
Blend in electric mixer. Serve in Planter’s Punch glass.
“The world’s finest, greatest, oh-so-good peachy hangover special. That’ll do it when nothing else will”
Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide Revised (1972)

Later, Vic wrote in Trader Vic’s Rum Cookery & Drinkery (1974) about the cocktail, saying “The Banana Cow is the greatest hangover drink as far as I’m concerned. People are in a rut serving Bloody Marys, and they really kill you rather than cool you. But milk is good for you, and bananas are good for your stomach. Many is a morning I could count a lot of people waiting for me to open my doors for a Rum or Banana Cow to cool it, heal it, and cure it completely.”

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Drunken Monkey at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

This cocktail appeared on the menu at Trader Vic’s Emeryville a couple years ago and I decided to revisit with lunch. The drink features unaged Cachaça and Tequila, along with Banana liqueur, grapefruit and lime juice, plus Trader Vic’s favorite ingredient – Orgeat. The Whipped Cream topping with Lime Zest makes this an attractive cocktail.

The blend of Cachaça and Tequila works really well here, providing different spirit notes than what you’d get with Rum or Bourbon. Cachaça is distilled from cane juice and the light herbal qualities pair well with Tequila’s agave-based flavor. The banana is there just as a hint, and when we upped the ratio at home it still wasn’t forward in the cocktail.

At Trader Vic’s the cocktail is served in this tall glass with nugget ice, which meant it was difficult to incorporate the topping into the drink due to the chunky ice. My preference would be for this to be in an old fashioned glass with a wider brim or with shaved ice that would be easier to work with.

Trader Vic’s hasn’t published the recipe but observing the prep and trying at home this seems pretty close. Give it a try!

Drunken Monkey by Trader Vic’s
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Grapefruit Juice (pink)
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1 oz Blanco Tequila
1 oz Silver Cachaça
Shake with crushed ice and top with whipped cream and banana chips.

At home I used El Jimador Tequila and Novo Fogo Cachaça, along with Latitude 29 Orgeat, and I felt this tasted even better than the one at Trader Vic’s. I’m a newbie to both spirits, so I couldn’t tell which brands were used at Vic’s.

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Cell 2187 (Ankle Breaker)

Happy May the Fourth: Star Wars Day.

The vessel is the Death Star. The drink is a modified version of the Ankle Breaker. Put them together and it is Cell 2187, the cell that Princess Leia was jailed in.

The original recipe calls for a 151 Puerto Rican rum. I do have some Don Q 151 but it is buried in the back of my liquor cabinet and I thought maybe switching it up would be an improvement. Indeed, replacing that potent rum with two others proved to be even better than the original. Much more flavorful with rums that can stand up to all that powerful Cherry Heering liqueur.

Cell 2187 (Ankle Breaker)
1½ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Simple Syrup
1½ oz Cherry Heering
1 oz Plantation OFTD Rum
½ oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Jamaica Rum
Shake with ice. Add “dark side of the Force” light-up cube.

The Geeki Tiki Death Star is a pretty nice mug.

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Caipirinha

I finally got around to purchasing a bottle of Cachaça, the cane spirit from Brazil. I’ve had good experiences with Novo Fogo Silver Cachaça and the price was reasonable so that’s what I went with. Not grassy at all, the savory flavors of this cane spirit are quite pleasant.

I decided to make a Caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil. This cocktail is similar to a Daiquiri or Ti Punch in that it contains a cane spirit, lime, and sugar.

Caipirinha
2 sugar cubes
1 Small Lime, cut into quarters
2 oz Cachaça
Place lime wedges and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle gently. Add Cachaça and crushed ice, then stir until chilled and the sugar is dissolved.

This is quite nice and more to my taste than the formula for a Ti Punch that has a smaller ratio of lime/sugar (if you prefer Martinique Rhum, your opinion may differ). I can see why the Caipirinha is popular.

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Ronrico Mai-Tai (1962)

This is from a print-ad circa 1962 and is noteworthy for a few reasons.

Firstly, it is a very early printed Mai Tai recipe, substantially similar to others from the mid-late 1950s. This was the original “Hawaiian Mai Tai” style that featured a split base of light rum paired with a flavorful dark Jamaica rum. I can assure you the Myers’s of that era was quite flavorful, and issued at robust 97 proof! A “jigger” in this time period was usually 1 oz.

As is typical of these early Hawaiian Mai Tais, the sweeteners were used in equal portions. Dash in this case being equal to ¼ oz. While the cocktail pictured does seem to be somewhat reminiscent of a fruit salad, it is also noteworthy that there’s no pineapple or orange juice. Remember, the Hawaiian Mai Tai was not born with pineapple juice.

1 jigger Ronrico White
1 jigger Myers’s Jamaica Rum
Juice of One Lime
1 dash Orgeat
1 dash Simple Syrup
1 dash Orange Curacao

I love the line “Don’t waste your time making it”. The person writing the copy also misspelled “Myers” rum, though they surely weren’t the first and far into the future people will still be misspelling it.

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Mai Tai Planters Punch

Felt like making it a little extra spicy tonight, so did a riff between two favorites. This was quite nice, without overpowering sweetness or spice.

1½ oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate Syrup
⅓ oz Don’s Spices #2 (50/50 Vanilla Syrup/Pimento Dram)
3 oz Jamaican Rum Blend (courtesy Andy from @easytikidrinks)
4 dashes Angostura Bitters

I love this Trader Vic’s Pilsner glass for tall drinks like this. Looks great with the classic logo treatment. We’ll see if the Mai Tai Planters Punch ever gets famous.