Here we have one of those genuine steady tropical tiki punches, made to relax with in a rattan chair while the sun sets and the cikadas start their nightly concert.
Made by Donn Beach and most likely as is stated already in the Log, a drink made for his steak and coffee house “The Colonel´s Plantation Beef Steak and Coffee House” in Waikiki Hawaii cirka 1950s. Sounds to me that those were the days..can someone please invent a real time-machine?
Thank God these recipes are still here (many due to some peoples hard work) so we can enjoy these drinks in our time.
All the ingredients in this drink are classic tiki cocktail ingredients including the pernod, one of the secrets at the time. This is a very rewarding drink to sip on. i think the ginger beer adds a very nice freshness while the three rums adds depth and complexity.
What you can do, if you wanna add some real funk to this drink is to make your own ginger beer, i bet it would make a fantastic flavor to this. I don´t have the time now to do that but i think i wanna try. That will have to be another blog post.
COLONEL BEACH´S PLANTATION PUNCH
1 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
0.5 oz falernum
2 oz ginger beer
2 dashes angostura bitters
1/8 tsp pernod
2 oz dark Jamaican rum
1 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
0.5 oz Barbados rum
Shake with one cup crushed ice- Pour into tall glass with 3-4 ice cubes. Garnish with pineapple chunk and sprig of mint.
Well, i used a tiki mug instead..one that i find suitable for a plantation punch and which i found on the shelves in one of New Orleans liqueur stores.
The taste of the drink is both fresh, rummy and relaxed, just the way this kinda drink should be. I have nothing to complain on here.
And as usual, here´s a little twist of this drink and we move from the rattan chair to the beach, here`s a Beach Punch:
COLONEL BEACH PUNCH
0.75 oz fresh lime
1.5 oz pineapple juice
1.5 oz root beer
2-3 dash Creole bitters or Peychaud`s
0.5 oz demerara simple syrup
1 oz dark Jamaican rum (Smith & Cross)
1 oz aged rhum agricole
0.5 oz LH 151
Shake with crushed ice and pour everything into a glass or tiki mug.
A typical tiki punch with extra flavors from the root beer. Nothing that sticks out but its relaxing and tasty. If you take the mint garnish and down it in the drink and stir a bit you`ll start to think about a julep sans bourbon.
A peek in the glass..are you thirsty now?
gyr8or – not really..apart from using Smith 6 Cross for the Jamaican. I don´t have any gold PR rum so i used Appleton VX since its smooth and easy to mix with most things. For Barbados rum i used my Plantation Barbados. If i`ve had Mount Gay i think i woulda used that.
Also i believe Pusser`s would be good in this drink. Really, experimenting with many different rums is the way to go until you find the combo that is just right for your tastebuds.
I can’t wait to make the Plantation Punch, I am going to try it tomorrow night. I tried making Ginger Beer once, and it was a disaster, and a sticky mess. I will stick with Goya Ginger Beer, it’s pretty good, and has that Ginger-y heat.
Do you have a preference for the rums you use in this drink, Tiare?
Cheers,
Clark C
Falls Church, VA
Roman, this Jamaican cookbook is from 1973 and the recipe is a simple basic island style affair:
Use 1/2lb root and 3 quarts cool water
Wash, scrape off skin and grate root and put into an earthen or glass jar.
Stir in half the water and stir in 1/2 lb sugar
Leave for 36 hrs. Strain. Add remaining water and sweeten to taste.Cover.
Allow to ripen and settle for 24 hrs.
Pour off into bottles.Chill before serving.
It can be improved with as Jordan said, lime or lemon juice.
Tiare, please share the recipe for the ginger beer… with aloha from Moscow. roman.
Somewhere around a 3:1 ratio between soda water and ginger syrup works fairly well me. A touch of lemon or lime juice helps too. Mostly you just have to fiddle around a bit until you find a ratio that fits your taste.
Jordan, thanks for the tip, the problem with ginger is the freshness going fast..gonna try this.
So how do you make your ginger beer? i myself use an old jamaican cookbook that i have somewhere on the shelfs..not sure where though. It has a very basic simple recipe.
If you want to make your own ginger beer, making it with ginger syrup from ginger juice (how many times can I say ginger?) works really well and stores better than the cooked variety of ginger syrup: I love how snappy and fresh it tastes, even after weeks in the fridge.
http://cocktailchem.blogspot.com/2011/03/quick-and-dirty-but-tasty-ginger-syrup.html