This cocktail from former Zombie Village bar manager Sam Miller was the featured cocktail on Make and Drink on YouTube this week. We recently saw Miller at the reunion event at Zombie Village where the Samson Swizzle was on the menu, and I really should have ordered it.
Samson Swizzle by Sam Miller ¾ oz Lime Juice ⅓ oz Cinnamon Syrup ⅓ oz Passionfruit Syrup 1 oz Real McCoy 3 / light Barbados rum 1 oz Rum Bar Gold / lightly aged Jamaican gold rum Angostura Bitters float “Handful” of Mint leaves Soda water Build over the mint, top with ice and then swizzle. Add soda and more ice to fill, then float Angostura Bitters.
I didn’t have either of the specified rums at home. I subbed with Probitas which is a blend of mostly lightly aged Barbados rum and a bit of Jamaica rum, and used Planteray Xaymaca as a sub for the Rum Bar Gold.
This is a delicious cocktail and the soda is an important component as it helps to incorporate the mint flavors throughout the cocktail. The amount of Ango would vary depending on your personal preference.
The recipe includes Passionfruit syrup, which I think pairs really great with the Circus Peanut (I used it in my Hurricane riff, the Hurriclown). But I dropped the amount down to a quarter ounce to focus a bit more on the traditional Mai Tai syrup, Orgeat.
Big Top Mai Tai by Jason Alexander 1½ oz Lemon Juice ¼ oz Passionfruit Syrup ½ oz Orgeat 1 oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup 2½ oz Planteray Xaymaca Rum Shake with crushed ice
Xaymaca’s unique funky taste really works well here, as does the lemon juice in place of traditional lime. This is a big, bold cocktail that is delicious.
Mrs. Mai Tai found some zero sugar syrups and since I’m trying to cut back on carbs and sugar I thought I’d give this a try. The cotton candy syrup is quite sweet and reminiscent of the confection favorite. I thought that a simple sour format would help to highlight the sweetener and since I had lemons rather than limes I decided to use pisco rather than rum.
Skinny Cotton Candy Pisco Sour ¾ oz Lemon Juice ¾ oz Skinny Cotton Candy Syrup 1½ oz Pisco Shake with ice and strain into a coupe
The overall flavor is pleasant but that cotton candy is quite format in this ratio, especially when paired with the mild pisco. It can take some work to really dial in the appropriate ratio for these type of syrups.
The intent was to see if you could make a frozen Mai Tai, since I was told you could freeze the liquid and then give it a quick blend to reproduce frozen cocktail texture. I tried a couple different variants but never got better than middling results, though those results still might be interesting or at least a good change of pace.
The best variant was a standard Mai Tai recipe doubled for volume and with an additional three ounces of water to replicate the dilution of water. This is placed in a zip lock back and placed in the freezer overnight. Give this a light pinch or two and then pour into a glass and drink with a straw. In my case I used the standard Ultimate Mai Tai recipe that includes two ounces of rum at just over 50% ABV.
This version is totally flavorful even with the lower overall temperature, though it is a chunkier texture than your average slushie. Putting this version into a blender essentially removed most of the ice components, but the version out of the baggie wasn’t too bad.
Some of the variants I tried included adding much more water and different lower proof rums. The extra water didn’t really change the consistency in the end product, and the lower ABV rums lacked the flavor from the potent Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend of Appleton 12, Smith & Cross, Xaymaca, and OFTD.
Busy weekend for me planning and executing the cocktails for a party featuring BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup. I made a welcome punch and then had a menu of four cocktails made to order. This was my first time doing bartending for a party, and yes I did make a few Ultimate Mai Tais as well.
Thanks to hosts Brenda and Glen who made it really easy to work behind the bar, and helped with some of the rum and ice for the party. And thanks to Jason Alexander and Rodney Stanton for the recipes for four of the five cocktails I served alongside my Hurricane riff.
Welcome punch: Honey Glazed Nut Punch
Cocktails: Barnum & Bailey Planters Punch, Djumbo Grog, a Clown Got Us Into This, and Hurriclown
Honey Glazed Nut Punch by Jason Alexander ¾ oz Lime juice ¾ oz Grapefruit juice ¾ oz Circus Peanut Syrup ¾ oz Honey Mix ½ oz Cinnamon syrup 2 oz Demerara rum
Barnum & Bailey Planter’s Punch by Jason Alexander 1 oz Lemon juice ¾ oz Circus Peanut syrup ¼ oz Don’s Spices 1½ oz Dark Jamaican rum ½ oz Demerara 151 rum 1 Dash Angostura Bitters 1 Dash Absinthe
A Clown Got Us into This by Rodney Stanton 1½ oz Lime Juice ⅞ oz Circus Peanut Syrup ⅛ oz Grenadine ½ oz Creme de Banana 1½ oz Kuleana Rum Works Nanea ½ oz Overproof Jamaican Rum 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
Djumbo Grog by Jason Alexander ¾ oz Lime juice 1½ oz Grapefruit juice 1 oz Circus Peanut Syrup ¼ oz Cinnamon Syrup ½ oz Falernum 1 oz Plantation 3 Star 1 oz Plantation Original Dark 1 oz Plantation OFTD
Hurriclown by Kevin Crossman 1 oz Lemon Juice ¼ oz Passionfruit Syrup ¾ oz Circus Peanut Syrup 1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum ½ oz Overproof Demerara Rum
Apologies to our friends at Kuleana Rum Works for not holding the bottle to show the label. Rookie mistake.
Another banger from San Francisco mixologist Nathan Robinson, this is sort of a “Planters Grog” riff that includes some bold flavors and a little maple syrup to keep things warm and seasonal.
This is quite good, if you have the Liquid Alchemist Falernum like I do. If you don’t have Liquid Alchemist I’d suggest using your own Falernum at half an ounce in combination with a quarter ounce of Allspice Dram as this will more closely approximate the flavor. And if you use a little extra Maple Syrup I wouldn’t discourage you from doing so.
Bah Rumbug by Nathan Robinson 1 oz Lime Juice 1 oz Red Grapefruit Juice ¾ oz Bold Falernum (pref. Liquid Alchemist) ½ oz Maple Syrup 1½ oz Demerara Rum (pref. Hamilton 86) 1 oz Black Blended Jamaica Rum (pref. Coruba) Shake with crushed ice and pour into tall Zombie or Pilsner glass. Garnish with mint, if you have it.
This BG Reynolds product started as a joke and then a kickstarter and eventually a product that was discontinued until it was brought back by another kickstarter-type funding round. And it has no reason to exist, except that it is amazing! And it is back on sale. Go to the BG Reynolds website and get Circus Peanut Syrupwhile you can.
It is exactly what it claims to be, a syrup version of your favorite childhood candy. Or someone’s favorite childhood candy, at least. But as much as you’d expect this to be terrible, the orange and banana flavors really work well in certain tropical cocktails. I guarantee that if you like tiki drinks that you will love Circus Peanut syrup.
Here’s a collection of recipes by Jason Alexander from Devil’s Reef, plus a couple from yours truly.
Recipes by Jason Alexander, unless noted
Barnum & Bailey Planter’s Punch ¾ BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup ¼ BG Reynolds Tiki Spices (Don’s Spices) 1 ½ dark Jamaican rum ½ Demerara 151 1 fresh lemon juice dash Angostura Bitters dash absinthe
Honey Glazed Nut Punch ¾ BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup ¾ BG Reynolds Honey Mix ½ BG Reynolds Cinnamon syrup 2 Demerara rum ¾ fresh lime juice ¾ grapefruit juice Ray’s favorite
Blair’s Mistake Dash bitters Splash of seltzer 1 oz lime ¾ oz circus peanut ¾ oz honey sirop ½ oz pineapple 1 oz 3 Star 1 oz Citadelle Gin Float 1 oz OFTD
My mistake was not adding the OFTD float
Not my Circus, Not My Monkey’s 2 dashes bitters Barspoon Zombie Mix 1½ oz lime 1 oz Clown Sirop ¾ oz Don’s Mix ¼ oz luxardo ¾ oz Plantation Xaymaca ¾ oz Plantation Original Dark 1 oz Plantation OFTD
Djumbo Grog 1½ oz grapefruit ¾ oz lime 1 oz Clown Sirop ½ oz cinnamon sirop ½ oz falernum 1 oz Plantation 3 Star 1 oz Plantation Original Dark 1 oz Plantation OFTD
Big Top Mai Tai ½ oz passion fruit sirop ½ oz almond sirop 1 oz Clown Sirop 1½ oz lemon 2½ oz Plantation Xaymaca
Clown Sling 4 dashes bitters 1 oz lemon 1 oz clown sirop ¼ oz cherry heering ¼ oz allspice dram 2 oz gin 2 oz seltzer after mixing
Chimp Cocktail by Kevin Crossman 1 oz Lime ½ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut syrup ½ oz Giffard Banane du Brésil (Banana Liqueur) 2 oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum Blend or other heavy / Navy Rum
Hurriclown by Kevin Crossman 1 oz Lemon Juice ⅓ oz Passionfruit Syrup ¾ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup 1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum ½ oz Overproof Demerara Rum
A Clown Got Us into This by Rodney Stanton 1½ oz Lime Juice 1½ oz Kuleana Rum Works Nanea ½ oz Overproof Jamaican Rum ½ oz Creme de Banana ¾ oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup ⅛ oz Grenadine 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
