The New York Café has been in Budapest for over a century and has a reputation for being the most beautiful in the world. We were staying two blocks away and made it over for some drinks and dinner. Indeed the intricate frescoes and glamorous chandeliers do seem more reminiscent of a palace than a restaurant.
It was nice inside and we had pretty reasonable service considering how busy it was, plus the piano player set a great mood. Our food and drinks were … serviceable. Not really bad but not at the level of the decor inside.
I only started procuring gin to make certain exotic cocktails, such as the Saturn shown here. I picked up a bottle of Beefeater London Dry Gin and haven’t looked back. I like the flavors that it imparts and I like the bottle design. Even better was how it was issued at 47% ABV, a step up from many retail spirits, giving this spirit a lot more flavor than vodkas and light rums. I’ve tried other gins but found that I like Beefeater and while I have dozens of rums, I didn’t feel like I needed to do much exploring in the gin category.
A couple years back Beefeater dropped their ABV to 44%, which I didn’t bat too much of an eye at though I will say I did buy a couple bottles of the 47% version that I found at a local liquor store. All seemed to be okay.
But Beefeater recently dropped their proof again and is now a paltry 40% ABV! This is a bridge too far, though I did go back to that store to buy a couple more 47s they still had in stock. But I can’t recommend the brand per se anymore. I do see that brands like Tanqueray are still at 47%, which is where I guess I’d stand from a recommendation standpoint, even though I haven’t done a side by side comparison.
What do you think, dear reader? What are your recommended gins for mixing?
Picked this beauty up at Tara Spirits in Munich. I’d heard good things about this bottle which includes four different rums all aged ten or more years on Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean. There are some of the rich raisin flavors I get from aged pot still rums from Appleton and Mount Gay, but the overall body is a little lighter. There is supposed to be some Grand Arome in here, and all the rums in the bottle are pot still rums aged in French Oak. No sugar or other additives are present, and the bottle comes in at 50% ABV.
I really love these aged flavorful rums, which means they go straight into a Mai Tai. As expected, the aromatic character of the rum works wonderfully in the cocktail and imparts rich flavors.
Papalin Réunion 10 Year Rum is worth seeking out if you can find it.
I’d like to thank the customs agent who didn’t ask any questions and allowed me to bring this Havana Club 7 Cuban Rum back from Germany with ease. I brought back from 12 year old Santiago rum from Cuba last year but I like the overall flavor and body of the Havana Club 7 better, so I made sure to bring back this bottle before my current one is finished. The current bottle is almost gone, and I’m also not sure when I’ll be out of the country so I had to make sure I stocked up.
Some people seem to pooh-pooh these Havana Club rums as only being desired due to scarcity in the United States, but having tried a lot of rum the Havana Club 3 and Havana Club 7 do stack up quite well and are very nice for these lighter style of column-still rums. The HC3 does make a fabulous crisp daiquiri and the HC7 is a very nice sipping rum that’s perfect when you want great flavor but don’t want the rum to be overly assertive. Sometimes you don’t want cask strength spirits.
One bummer was that the HC3 in Germany was only 37.5% ABV, less than the 40% that I got last year in U.K. I’m all for having a little more HC3 but I do draw the line at rum less than 40%.
Doing a little R&D in advance of my Mai Tai seminar at Tiki Oasis. Having some fun making Mai Tais with the full Denizen Rum lineup, the rum sponsor for my seminar (these are older bottles/labels, mind you). Really looking forward to my first Oasis in San Diego.
There were a couple parties last night that I could have attended but wasn’t feeling great. All the fireworks going off in our neighborhood were disturbing, including some that went off right over our house thanks to neighbors. I really hate the 4th of July.
The Mai Tai was the consolation prize.
Blue Mai Tai 1 oz Lime Juice ½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29) ¼ oz Simple Syrup ½ oz Giffard Blue Curacao ½ oz Rum Fire Overproof Jamaica Rum 1 oz Leblon Cachaça Shake with crushed ice and garnish with mint.
Normally I make this with the overproof as the featured spirit, but wanted to see if the more savory Cachaça flavors would come through in this format and they surely did. Still very flavorful and leaning sweet (omit the Simple to reduce sweetness).
We organized a brunch meetup at South San Francisco’s Hula Hoops within the South SF Bay Area Tiki Ohana Group in Facebook, and so a bunch of people came out to see folks and try Hula Hoops’ amazing brunch and cocktails. Great to see everyone and to take advantage of easy reservation options. Staffing was super friendly and all our items came out in a timely manner even though it was quite busy.
Our food was amazing, similar to past visits this year. I once again had the Salmon Avocado toast that was heavenly. We also had the delicious Butter Mochi with tropical Guri-Guri sherbet.
Drinks were quite on point once again, including the Coco Loco which is served in a coconut with dry ice smoke. This rum drink has great tropical flavors and isn’t overly sweet. Mrs. Mai Tai also had one of her favorites, the Ube Martini. Customers can order this with vodka, gin, or tequila, but we naturally chose rum as the featured spirit that pairs so well with ube and coconut cream.
Best Scorpion Bowl Ever
The highlight for me was the Scorpion Bowl. I haven’t loved this Trader Vic’s cocktail in the past, but it’s on the Hula Hoops’ cocktail checklist and I thought I would be able to get a little help finishing it from others in the group.
Whereas in the past I’ve found the Scorpion to have too much lemon and orange, the fruit juice was very well balanced with orgeat and flavorful rum. Hula Hoops really nailed this, a testament to their cocktail program that’s still going strong since 2018.
