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Tiki Month – Pieces of Eight and Dr Funk served in Ice Tower

So…the tiki month is coming to an end - well i guess not for me since it´s tiki month all year here on this blog! Doug really has cranked out TONS of great drinks and info and i haven`t yet been able to read it all – heck i have a normal job too!!

But there´s lots of great knowledge, funny anecdotes, history and teachings and for our convenience and for this i say THANK YOU Doug! all the posts are listed with links if you just click on “Tiki Month 2012” at the upper top right on his blog, and there ya go!

So i guess this is going to be my last post for tiki month of february at least, and looking around to find an interesting drink to make i found the “Pieces of Eight” in Remixed which is one i haven´t made before. I like the idea of using eight pieces of grilled pineapple as garnish as showed in the book.

I also happen to feel like making the ice tower again and so i made one yesterday, it´s been kept in my freezer overnight – it´s for Dr Funk. Who is Dr Funk? well, it´s a drink that was made by a German doctor in Samoa…

The ice tower was something i first saw years ago in a picture of the drink “Dr Funk`s Son” and thought it was so cool i went and made a few different ice-towers and wrote a post about Dr Funk and Dr Funk´s Son.

Also just now during the tiki month over at the Pegu blog, my epic friend Doug also wrote about this drink in an excellent post with no less than three versions of the drink.

Dr Funk was invented by a German doctor on Samoa as a cure for the world renown author Robert Louis Stevenson – sometimes in the beginning of the 20th century and if you haven´t read his book “Mystic Isles of the South Seas” and is interested in things Polynesia i think you should. It`s a great piece of history. Well – making those drinks was long ago and i haven`t made any new ice-tower until now…gonna be fun to make the Dr Funk again – also it´s a great drink containing a little bit of absinthe for your well-being.

As for the other drink “Pieces of Eight” – it was created at the Pieces of Eight restaurant in Marina Del Rey, California in cirka 1962. Seems llike the restaurant closed down sometimes in the 70s. It´s a light drink with just 1.5 oz of light Puerto Rican rum – and i`m not that much into light drinks….so i wanna pimp it up a bit – but if you prefer a lower alcohol content just stick to the original recipe which calls for 1.5 oz light Puerto Rican rum.

Moreover you don´t have to go and grill eight pieces of pineapple for garnish to do this drink, it´s just me wanna do it cuz i love those little things…

But now all this talk about grilled pineapple and rum has made me thirsty so i better get going, here are the recipes:

PIECES OF EIGHT


0.5 oz fresh lime juice

1.5 oz fresh lemon juice

1.5 oz passionfruit syrup

1.5 oz light Puerto Rican rum

1 oz Smith & Cross (extra)

4 oz ( 0.5 cup) crushed ice

Put it all in a blender and blend at high speed for 5 sec and pour unstrained into a tall glass or specialty glass and add more crushed ice to fill.

With the addition of Smith & Cross the drink was – to my taste – very nice!

DR FUNK ( 1948 trader Vic`s recipe)

2 1/2 oz. Dark Jamaican Rum

2 1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

1 1/2 oz. Club Soda

1/2 oz. Grenadine

1/4 oz. Absinthe

Shake all ingredients except club soda in a cocktail shaker with 1 cup of crushed ice. Pour into Fu Manchu mug or 12 oz. chimney glass – or ice tower… Top with soda and more crushed ice to fill

If you like the taste of absinthe you´ll like this drink! the taste of anise is distinctive but not overpowering.

HOW TO MAKE THE ICE TOWER

It´s easy – Just place the glass inside a larger plastic bucket-like cup or “glass” –  a bit bigger than the drinking glass filling the space in between with first crushed ice and then water and then into the freezer overnight.

IMPORTANT – After you added the crushed ice in the space between the glasses make sure to add a stone or something to hold it down when you pour in the water.

When you take it out hold it under warm water to get the ice tower to get loose from the plastic bucket, it doesn´t take more than a minute or two.

UPDATE – One more thing – in the comments i got the question if the ice tower melts fast and wet the table….well, i say - A couple of napkins is useful…and not to drink too slowly either but since this drink (or another) you make in it tastes so good that shouldn`t be a problem…just don´t make zombies.…

Aloha and Okole maluna!

 

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MxMo LXIV – Tiki!

 

Since february is Tiki Month it`s just appropriate with a Tiki themed Mixology Monday and of course it´s the Pegu blog that host the event – mahalo Doug! He`s the one who invented the tiki month of february – and every tiki month he cranks out posts at a speed that at least i cannot catch up with on my own blog, it`s like a volcano eruption…and these posts are not only funny they are also very informative.

And now he`s hosting MxMo Tiki as well, where does the man get his energy from? tiki drinks?? he must have some secret magic potion..

And here is what Mixolgy Monday had to say:

Aloha, booze bloggers — it’s been a quiet couple of months, between the holidays and the more-or-less widely observed month of Detoxuary, but we haven’t forgotten about cocktails, or our not-quite-monthly Mixology Mondays.

But it’s February, and most of our past participants live in places where this can be a gruesome month full of rain and snow and other wintry nastiness. One such regular participant is Doug Winship at Pegu Blog, and this month, Doug’s doing his best to beat back winter by designating Tiki as this month’s theme.

Sounds good to me…february is the coldest month of the year and is supposed to be the last winter month and if we can make it go faster and smoother by adding tiki drinks to the agenda i`m all for it! And here is what Doug had to say:

Since Tiki is more than just the drinks, feel free to post on whatever Tiki subject floats your outrigger canoe. I suspect most of you will want to offer up delectable drinks, but feel free to wax eloquent on aloha shirts, exotica music, decor, garnishes, food or whatever else moves you to enter the Tiki spirit!

Well, from me he gonna get two tiki drinks and the first one was created by the Bum himself in honor of the 10th anniversary of Sven Kirsten`s Book of Tiki – the original “Tiki reviver” as stated on the Bum´s blog.

TIKI REVIVAL – Made by Jeff Beachbum Berry

1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz nutmeg syrup

1 oz Gold Barbados Rum

1 1/4 oz dark Jamaican rum

1 tsp apricot brandy

Shake with ice and pour unstrained into preferably a “Book of Tiki Tribute mug” or another tiki mug if you don´t have this one. (i haven`t )

Top with some grated nutmeg.

The next is my own creation which uses coffee and muscovado sugar syrup, rum and gin:

TIKI TORCH


1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz passion fruit juice

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz Jamaican dark rum

1 oz gin

0.5 oz light muscovado sugar syrup

5-6 coffee beans

Crush coffee beans in shaker and add muscovado syrup and muddle, add the rest of ingredients and shake hard with ice and double strain into a zombie glass with crushed ice.

Garnish with pineapple and cherry.

A HUGE Mahalo to the man who started the tiki month and so tirelessly keeps promoting it, posting in a speed that makes me ashamed,-)  – Doug Winship!

Happy Mixology Monday!

 

Sugarcane bar

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A Tiki Drink for Valentines Day – Ma’ane’i No Ke Aloha ~ For love is here and now

Tiki month of february continues with a little something for the valentine`s day…i see more and more romantic cocktails for the upcoming Valentine´s day in the making but nowhere do i see a romantic tiki drink?  – looks like somebody has to do something about that and what can be better timing for that than now since it also is the tiki month?

When thinking of romantic-tiki i visualize polynesian tropical sunsets, palm fronds gently swaying in the soft breeze and flickering tiki torches – often two tiki torches are crossed together, like two lovers…and then we have the distant waves crashing against the reef and melodic ukulele music – the whole Hawaiian dream – so i think we´re going to Hawaii for this valentine´s tiki drink…

Hawaii means aloha and aloha is not just hello and goodbye, it also means love - The aloha spirit is a spirit of love. It’s a spirit of caring, sharing, and giving and it puts the needs of others first. Isn’t that what love is all about?

So here is a tiki drink for valentine´s day, with a Hawaiian name of love of course:

Ma’ane’i No Ke Aloha ~ For love is here and now

1 oz white rum (i used Tiki Lover´s white)

0.5 oz rhum agricole blanc ( i used La Mauny)

0.5 oz dark Jamaican rum – Smith & Cross – for a funky punch

1 oz Coco Lopez cream of coconut

1 oz Coconut milk

4 oz fresh pineapple juice

0.5 oz green chartreuse

0.5 oz fresh lime juice

0.25 oz sugarcane syrup (i used Petit canne)

Shake with ice cubes and pour into a wide large glass with a pink sugar rim and garnish with orchid and pineapple leaves. You may choose some other garnish…i decided to go for cerise-pink because that´s what i had at home and that´s also a color of love, it´s not just red. You may add some grated some nutmeg on top as well

This drink is inspired by the classic pina colada which becomes soooo much better if a golden or even dark rum is used (adding some character)

This drink isn´t exactly weak in the flavor since it contains both rhum agricole and Smith and Cross but i think these rums funks it up in a good way – and the lovely green chartreuse adds some herbal notes and mystery..

Me Ke Aloha! (with love)

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TIKI MONTH IS FEBRUARY!

If you didn´t know february isn`t only the month of Mardi Gras festivities it´s also the Tiki month! so we will see a never ending parade of tiki drinks on some blogs…it´s Doug over at the Pegu blog who started the tradition with Tiki month – plus it´s tiki for Mixology Monday on feb 20th at said blog.

So of course i follow suite…it doesn´t take much to get me start mixing up tiki libations – but to me it´s really tiki month all year:-) But to kick of this official tiki month – here´s two tiki drinks inspired by the Banda islands where the world’s only source of the spices nutmeg and mace was produced until the mid 19th century.

I was looking for something to make with my nutmeg syrup which i made for my St George´s Rum Punch post when i was on Facebook in a discussion and Sven Kirsten mentioned the Banda Islands and from there i saw a connection to my nutmeg syrup and a good drink name.

The Banda islands in Indonesia are seven volcanic tropical islands and they have an interesting history but sad though. The Bandanese had long used nutmeg as a currency, which they traded for food with people from other islands.

But when they were colonized by first the Portugese and then the Dutch who wanted to have all the control of the nutmeg trade – then most of the Bandanese were killed in the raids and it ended with the Dutch having to import farmers from the Netherlands to take over the nutmeg farms.

Today the beautiful Banda or Spice islands are quite unknown and their location is so isolated that they still do not appear on many present day maps. They are manly visited by sailors and smaller cruise ships. I`d like to see those islands…that´s a travel destination in my taste!

Anyway nutmeg syrup lead to the Banda islands and that ended up being two new tiki drinks – that`s how cocktail geeks roll..

BANDA ISLAND PUNCH


1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum

1 oz El Dorado 15yo

1 oz Clemènt VSOP

0.5 oz fresh lime

0.5 oz nutmeg syrup

0.25 oz coffee liqueur

Fresh pineapple juice to top

Grated nutmeg

Pineapple piece and 2 cherries

Shake with cracked ice and pour unstrained into a glass or tiki mug with extra ice if needed. Top up with pineapple juice and garnish with a speared pineapple chunk with the leaves attached and drop 2 cherries in the glass and finish with a little grated nutmeg on top.

The next drink is named after the famous volcano on the Banda islands called Gunung Api or Fire Mountain. You can make a flaming version if you want and add a half lime shell filled with overproof rum on top and set alight.

NUTMEG SYRUP

3 nutmeg pods + sugar to thicken

Cut those pods into quarters and place in a large pot and blanch them with boiling water to get rid of the small amount of acid that nutmeg contains. Pour out the water and add 2 cups fresh cold water and let sit overnight.

Next day, boil (the same water) for 20 minutes and then leave to sit again for 24 hrs. I know…it´s a bit of a daunting task to make this syrup but once you get started it´s not that bad..

Now, bring it to a boil and when it starts boiling start adding the sugar, 2 cups to the water, so you get equal amounts of sugar to water and if you want a thicker syrup just add some more – and lightly boil until it reaches the consistency of maple syrup, don´t boil too hard.

This makes about 2 cups of syrup, you may brake it down to a lesser amount.

FIRE MOUNTAIN


0.5 oz Appleton Extra

0.5 oz Smith and Cross

1 oz aged rhum agricole

0.5 oz fresh lime

0.5 oz Falernum

0.5 oz nutmeg syrup

i oz fresh grapefruit juice

1 oz Pineapple juice

1 t cream of coconut

Run in blender at high speed 5 sek with 1 cup crushed ice. Pour in tiki mug or glass and garnish with pineapple and cheeries.

And now the tiki month is kicked off  – okole maluna!

Here is an interview worth reading with Ed Hamilton about the Lemon Hart 151 rum over at the Pegu blog..contaning a video where Ed and Martin Cate compares the old version of LH151 with the new one.

Sugarcane bar

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