Category: Recipe

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Singapore Sling

I don’t have Benedictine, so I have been using the 1937 Don the Beachcomber recipe. I have felt this lacked complexity so I have been thinking of things to add to it. This time I tried a bit of Passionfruit Syrup. It was maybe a little better but still something is lacking. But I do like the heavy cherry taste and the gin makes it refreshing.

Singapore Sling
½ oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Cherry Heering
1 oz Dry Gin
¼ oz Passionfruit Syrup

Shake with ice cubes add 1 ½ oz Soda and pour into tall glass.

Glassware by The Kon-Tiki.

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Monkey Business

This cocktail was created by Laura Murphy and I liked it when she and Woody Miller finished their Kon Tiki Expedition Rum List back in January.

Laura posted the recipe yesterday, in tribute to her mother who passed away a year ago. Her mom had helped with the testing and Laura’s post includes the recipe written out in her mother’s handwriting. Truly heartbreaking. Hang in there, Laura.

This cocktail needs to get out there, so here’s the recipe. I tried it with both the Giffard and Tempus Fugit Banana Liqueurs and I’d say that maybe the Giffard had a slightly more banana taste. But otherwise these were very close, and both were delicious.

Monkey Business by Laura Murphy
¾ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Falernum
¼ Dry Curacao
1 oz Banana Liqueur
½ oz Hamilton Pot Still Black rum
1 oz Plantation 5 yr Rum
2 dashes Forbidden Bitters

Ideally, garnish with banana wedge and dehydrated lemon wheel.

This is a really good cocktail. Give it a try, and raise a glass.

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Pusser’s Rum Happy Hour

Had a great time yesterday watching Suzanne Long deliver a fabulous Instagram Live rum presentation for Pusser’s Rum.

Suzanne is such a pro at these things, and always know how to welcome an audience. Several times she stopped the presentation to welcome those who had just joined and level set in her presentation about rum basics, the tradition of British Navy Rum, and then more about Pusser’s Rum. Their new 15 year expression contains no sugar and is wonderful.

The cocktail uses the Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof rum, which I find to be fabulous. Pretty affordable for what you get, it is delicious in cocktails such as Suzanne’s Gunpowder Swizzle. If you don’t have this rum, you can fake it by using 1.5 oz of Pusser’s Rum (Blue Label) and .5 oz of a 151 Demerara rum.

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Halekulani Mai Tai

The Mai Tai served at House without a Key, Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki
⅓ oz Orgeat
⅓ oz Orange Curacao (Cointreau)
⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup
1 ¼ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Bacardi Select/Black Rum
¾ oz Bacardi Gold Rum
Float ½ oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum

This looks like a typical Island Mai Tai but is closer to an original 1944 Mai Tai, and was easily our favorite in Waikiki. (Halekulani website)

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I Ran Out of Gin!

This was a development I never saw coming. While I’ve always been a rum guy I would never guessed that I’d drain my one long bottle of Gin long before I’d drain the lone Vodka and Tequila bottles. But I have been enjoying a lot of Gin drinks lately, including the Saturn.

This was posted a couple weeks ago but I did another run and I’m still digging it. Something a little different but still tiki if you ask me.

Innovation Cocktail by Kevin Crossman
1 ounce Passionfruit Syrup
½ ounce Orgeat
½ ounce Blue Curacao Liqueur
2 ounces London Dry Gin (I used Beefeater)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a coupe glass or wine glass.

Innovation Cocktail
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Lemon Juice in a Mai Tai?

It isn’t a state secret that Trader Vic’s often uses lemon juice in Mai Tais made with the Mai Tai Concentrate. The taste test is comparing a Mai Tai made only with Lime Juice and one made with Lemon and Lime.

¾ oz Lemon Juice (or Lime)
¾ oz Mai Tai Concentrate Mix
2 oz Royal Amber Rum
Shake with crushed ice and pour into glass
Squeeze juice of ¼ Lime Wedge
Garnish with wedge and mint.

Overall this was pretty close but the one with Lemon Juice indeed had a brighter overall taste and just a tad more balanced.

This tasted just like the “Trader Vic’s Mai Tai” from the restaurants.

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Innovation Cocktail

We’re having Spirit Week at my company, Juniper Networks. So I submitted this for a Happy Hour event on Friday.

For those looking for something to prepare for Happy Hour on Friday, here’s an original cocktail with a uniquely Juniper theme. The yellow passion fruit syrup and the blue curacao liqueur should give you something close to Juniper Green, without the use of food coloring. The name is a play on words for a famous Gin-based cocktail, the Aviation.

This uses ingredients you can find in many mainstream liquor warehouse stores (e.g. BevMo). Of course the spirit (for Spirit Week!) has to be a juniper-forward Gin.

Innovation Cocktail by Kevin Crossman
1 ounce Passion fruit Syrup (or, passion fruit puree, such as Finest Call)
½ ounce Orgeat (or Almond Syrup, such as Toriani)
½ ounce Blue Curacao Liqueur
2 ounces London Dry Gin (I used Beefeater)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a coupe glass or wine glass.

Cheers!

Innovation Cocktail