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Let`s say Merry Christmas and Goodbye to 2020, with a Christmas Lapu and a Beachcomber´s Christmas!

Like everyone else I`m happy to see 2020 go…. we have all endured all kinds of hardships and trauma, let´s hope for a better year in 2021! Here are two Christmas drinks I made with passion fruit sorrel, a very tasty version of the traditional sorrel. The passion fruit sorrel recipe was created by my favorite chef, Chris de la Rosa of caribbeanpot.com! I just changed the ratios a little bit to suit my two Tiki cocktails. But you may double my recipe and have some to drink during the Christmas days, I did, and it´s sooo tasty! I can barely pass the fridge without having a few sips of it.

Christmas Lapu

2 oz fresh orange juice
0.25 oz fresh lemon juice
3 oz passion fruit sorrel
1.5 oz Tiki Lovers Dark rum
1.5 oz Tiki Lovers White rum

Shake well with ice cubes and pour into a double old fashioned glass with a large ice chunk. Garnish with green moss and a white tropical orchid.

Taste notes – Taste of hibiscus, a little spice, a little fruit and a little rum. Quite refreshing without being too heavy on the alcohol. This drink can be adjusted with how sweet or tart you want it by adding or reducing the lemon juice. The sweetness is in the sorrel, and I didn`t make it super-sweet, but there too, it can be adjusted by the amount of sugar added.

Passion Fruit Sorrel

1 cup Hibiscus flowers
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
1/3 stick of Ceylon cinnamon
3 slices of fresh ginger
3 tbsp light muscovado sugar
3 large or 6 small passion fruit depending on variety
1/2 orange, sliced

Add everything (except the passion fruit, sugar and orange slices) to a pot with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for eight minutes.

Add passion fruit pulp and add the shells too, except one that is saved for the Campari float. Add 3 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Add the sliced orange. Simmer for another 2 minutes, then turn the heat off, put the lid on and leave it to cool overnight in room temp. This can be used both as a cocktail ingredient and as a Christmas sorrel drink. Chill in the fridge.

Before use, add a little sprinkle of fresh lime juice (about 1 tsp) and adjust the sweetness with sugar, coconut sugar or honey if needed.

Beachcomber`s Christmas

2 oz passion fruit sorrel
0.25 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz kombu seaweed infused Campari (to
float). Just Campari without seaweed works fine too.
0.5 oz Appleton Rare Blend (12 Year)
0.5 oz aged rhum agricole
0.5 oz Lemon Hart 151

Shake with ice and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a passion fruit shell containing the Campari float, and a cocktail umbrella.

Taste notes – it tastes like a mix of aged rum, passion fruit sorrel and Campari, exactly as what it is. It tastes like Christmas for grown-ups!

Kombu Seaweed infused Campari: Break off a 10 inch piece of kombu seaweed into 2-3 pieces, add to 1 cup/2.5 dl of Campari. Let sit overnight. The seaweed adds a hint of “salty sea” to the Campari. Just a “tingle,” but it makes itself known.

Name for this drink is courtesy of Donovan Goble.

Merry Christmas y`all!

 

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Tiki Lover`s Rum – Tikimania Edition

Tiki Lover`s Rum is launching a limited edition called Tikimania Edition in collaboration with Museum Funf Continente in Munich, and designer Michael Uhlenkott.  The Museum Funf Continente in Munich is Germany’s first ethnological museum, since 1862. They are having an exhibition called TIKIMANIA until end of feb 2021, and the focus of the exhibition is the Marquesas islands. Tiki Lovers rum have for this special occasion created new labels in collaboration with designer Michael Uhlenkott for the Tiki Lover`s Dark, White and Pineapple rums.

These tapa print designs go back to the archives of German explorer Karl von den Steinen (1855-1929) who travelled and thoroughly documented the arts and crafts of the Marquesan islands. Parts of his documents rests in the Museum Funf Continente and link the new label design to the exhibition. The Tikimania Special Edition rums are sold at the museum shop and online in Germany through Rum Kontor Cologne, koelnerrumkontor.de and drinkology.de

I think that these label designs that Michael Uhlenkott made are stunning! the bottles really look good on the shelf. The rums are good too, and they hold a decent ABV as well ( 57% for the dark, 50% for the White and 45% for the Pineapple)  so what`s not to love?

The rums in the bottles are the same as before and I wrote about the Pineapple rum, the Circle of Tiki & Rum Camp Booklet in june, and about the Tiki Lover`s White and Dark a couple of years ago.

But it´s October, and I felt inspired to come up with a hot pink Tiki drink. I decided to make a fun twist of the Penang Afrididi using freeze dried powder of the pink pitaya fruit. I cannot find the fresh fruit here right now, and it`s not common here either. So, I thought the powder that many smoothie makers are using could be fun to try. I was also inspired by a picture I saw of a very hot pink plumeria.

Afrididi Pitaya

0.5 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz fresh pineapple juice
0.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice (white)
0.5 oz fassionola (or use hibiscus grenadine)
1/2 tsp pink pitaya powder
1.5 oz Tiki Lovers White
1.5 oz Tiki Lovers Dark
2 dashes Peychaud`s bitters
1 cup crushed ice

Blend all ingredients at high speed with 1 cup of crushed ice for 5 seconds. Pour into a tall glass. Add more crushed ice to fill and add 2 dashes of Peychaud´s. Garnish with Thai lime leaves and a dehydrated lime peel (I used one from Labtenders, who makes amazing crystallized and dehydrated fruits, sugar art etc. for cocktail garnish).

Tiki Lovers Pearl Oyster Punch

0.75 oz/20 ml fresh lime
1 oz/30 ml fresh orange juice
0.5 oz/15 ml pearl oyster mix
0.5 oz/15 ml cream of coconut
0.5 oz/15 ml Tiki Lovers Dark rum
1.5 oz/45 ml Tiki Lovers White rum
0.25/7.5 ml Tiki Lovers Pineapple rum
0.5 oz/15 ml J. Wray overproof rum
1 cup/2 dl crushed ice

Blend first without ice until smooth to incorporate the butter. Add crushed ice and flash blend for 5 seconds. Pour into a suitable glass. Add more crushed ice to fill and sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg on top. Garnish with a cocktail umbrella.

Pearl Oyster Mix – Pearl Diver/Gardenia mix with apricot cinnamon syrup and 2 drops oyster sauce. The oyster sauce adds a tiny bit of sea-salt flavor and umami to the cocktail.

0.5 oz/15 ml unsalted butter
0.5 oz/15 ml honey
1/2 tsp Tahitian vanilla syrup
1 tsp apricot-cinnamon syrup
1/2 tsp Alamea Pimento liqueur
2 drops oyster sauce

Stir together and keep slightly above room temp until use. Makes enough for two drinks.

Apricot-Cinnamon Syrup

Cut up a handful of ripe apricots with a strong orange/reddish color, a “handful” depends on size and type of apricot. But you should end up with about 2 dl of cut up apricot pieces. Crush 1 large Ceylon cinnamon stick (not cassia.) Make a 2:1 simple syrup with light muscovado sugar and water. Add the apricot pieces and the crused cinnamon stick. Heat it up on medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and mash the apricot pieces with a fork. Bring to a very quick boil, then immediately take it off the heat. Set aside and leave for a few hours. Strain and bottle.

Enjoy!

Background print : Dawn Frasier – Sophista Tiki

Cocktail umbrella: Kon Tigo Tiki  Bar 

 

 

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How about a Pandan Downfall?

It`s pandan time in my kitchen and this day I wanted something really tasty and refreshing in a summer-kinda-way to accompany my lunch with spicy chicken biryani.  I was inspired by Emanuele Codispoti`s latest drink the Missionary`s Colada, that I also made and posted on this blog here. So I came up with this pandan flavored version of a Missionary`s Downfall – a very famous classic Tiki cocktail.

And it IS tasty!! incredibly refreshing, tangy, zesty and yummy, I wish I had made two…. but the recipe is there and now I want to share it with you my readers, so here it is. Pandan leaves is the leaves from a type of pandanus plant and is used extensively in Asian cuisine. These leaves are incredibly fragrant. Finding fresh pandan leaves can maybe be tricky in these times depending on where you live. Luckily for me Sweden has a lot of Thai shops and online too. Pandan leaves can also be frozen which is very useful. I have now both pandan and kaffir lime leaves in my freezer. The pandan syrup I made from fresh leaves though. It`s very easy, just make a simple syrup with a raw sugar and add some chopped pandan leaves into it and let it simmer for a minute. Then take it off the heat and let it sit for a while until you find the flavor  and fragrance strong enough. I let mine sit for 30 minutes before straining and bottling.

Pandan Downfall

1 oz/30 ml GunRoom 2Ports light rum
0.5 oz/15 ml Rhum JM XO
0.5 oz/15 ml RumFire overproof rum
1 oz/30 ml pandan syrup
0.5 oz/15 ml Alamea Peach Brandy Liqueur
0.5 oz/15 ml apricot cinnamon syrup
2 oz/60 ml fresh lime juice
2 oz/60 ml fresh pineapple chunks
10 mint leaves
1 cup/2.5 dl crushed ice

Pulse blend at high speed for 10 seconds. Pour into a cocktail coupe or snifter and garnish with pandan leaves and a pandan rose. (how to make those you can learn on Youtube) Sprinkle a little bit of cardamom on top.

Apricot-Cinnamon Syrup

Cut up a handful of ripe apricots with a strong orange/reddish color, a “handful” depends on size and type of apricot. But you should end up with about 2 dl of cut up apricot pieces. Crush 1 large Ceylon cinnamon stick (not cassia.) Make a 2:1 simple syrup with light muscovado sugar and water. Add the apricot pieces and the crushed cinnamon stick. Heat it up on medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and mash the apricot pieces with a fork. Bring to a very quick boil, then immediately take it off the heat. Set aside and leave for a few hours. Strain and bottle.

Enjoy and Aloha!

 

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Hawaiian Coffee Colada

It just happens to be the International Pina Colada day so who am I to say no to a lush Colada drink? I decided to make a slight twist of the iconic classic and without further ado here is the recipe:

Hawaiian Coffee Colada

15 ml/0.5 oz cream of Coconut
15 ml/0.5 oz roasted orgeat
15 ml/0.5 oz Alamea Hawaiian Coffee liqueur
45 ml/1.5 oz fresh lime juice
60 ml/2 oz fresh pineapple juice
45 ml/1.5 oz Rhum JM XO
45 ml/1.5 oz Dr Bird Jamaican rum

Flashblend for 5 seconds with 2.5 dl/ 1 cup crushed ice and pour into a frozen pineapple. Garnish with pineapple leaves.

Roasted orgeat

Toast 60 ml/2 oz almond flakes in a dry pan or in the owen at 100C. Watch it carefully, and stir it a little because almond easily burn. But let them get some brown color. Crush them lightly and leave to cool on a plate.

Make a 2:1 simple syrup with light muscovado sugar and water. Add the toasted crushed almond flakes. Heat it up on medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, let it simmer for a minute while stirring but do not boil. Set aside and leave for at least a few hours or overnight. Strain and bottle.

Happy Pina Colada Day and enjoy!

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Missionary`s Colada

Here is a great drink, especially for the summer, created by my friend Emanuele Codispoti. It`s a tasty mix of the Pina Colada and the Missionary`s Downfall. Yep, what a drink marriage! the drink is so fresh and tasty!

Here is a little biography of Emanuele:

Emanuele was born in Rome and grow up in a small town in Calabria, south of Italy, He started to work in the hospitality business at an early age and started to work behind the bar in the early 2000`s. Researches about “tropical” drinks brouht him to discover Jeff Beachbum Berry and his books, Don the Beachcomber, Trader Vic and the Tiki cocktails. He fell into the “Tiki rabbit-hole” and it was love at first sight!

His obsession with faraway, exotic and mystery islands has its roots in his childood. As a child, and even before he was born, he listened to instrumental songs that his father listened to. Bands like Santo & Johnny, with their lap steel guitar did early on put their sound into the deepths of his mind. And Emanuele grew up with the myth of a Hawaiian paradise. There was something, like a recall, that attracted him towards a lost and mysterious world. As an adult and overcoming the fear of flying, he finally made his dream come true. He travelled across America to visit Tiki bars and sites. From San Francisco to Los Angeles and San Diego, from Maui and Ohau to New Orleans, from New York to Fort Lauderdale.

He have had the honor to be guest bartending at The Hukilau beside Daniele Dalla Pola (Nu Lounge Bar, Bologna and Esotico, Miami) for the past three years. Now he works at a Beach Club called Mana Nui Sand bar at Verdemare Beach, in a small town called Soverato in Southern Italy. And here is his drink:

Missionary`s Colada, by Emanuele Codispoti

1.5 oz light Puerto Rican rum (Bacardi Carta Blanca)
0.5 oz gold Cuban rum (Havana Club 3)
1 oz Re`al cream of coconut
0.25 oz Re`al ginger syrup
1 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz Alamea Peach Brandy liqueur
8 mint leaves
6 pineapple chunks
pinch of salt

Blend until liquid and the add 1 cup of crushed ice and blend again until smooth but not slushy.

Pour into a snifter and enjoy! garnish with mint. I also added a small strawberry… Note that the drink I made looks very green,  it´s due to that I took some extra (and very large) mint leaves, I`m a mint lover!

 

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Tiki Lovers Pineapple Rum, the Circle of Tiki & Rum Camp Booklet

It`s time to talk about Tiki Lover`s rum again, I can`t believe it was eight (!) years ago that the first Tiki Lover`s rums was launched and I wrote about them. Where did the time go? scary! Anyway, I have noticed that people are talking about them on social media and since the last time they have also launched a pineapple rum, similar in style to the one from Plantation, the Stiggin`s Fancy. it`s similar but not quite the same, and the production methods, type of pineapple used and the flavor differ.

Curious as I am I did  taste them both side by side and noticed the differences but also some similarities. My conclusion is that one of them might be better suited for one specific drink and the other for another. Overall, I find the Tiki Lover`s to be very strong on the pineapple flavor, which makes it maybe more suitable for strong Tiki cocktails, while the Stiggin`s Fancy is lighter in flavor, more complex and refined.

Not sure how exactly the Tiki Lover`s team make their pineapple rum, all I know is that they use natural extracts from pineapples from South America. I`m not sure if the pineapples are fresh or baked before added to the rum, the description says “The  juice is extracted and some of its water content is reduced in order to not water down the rum.”

The rums used in the blend are aged and un-aged pot still rums from Hampden and Worthy Park, then 3 year old Barbados rum from Foursquare aged in former bourbon whiskey barrels (thumbs up for these rums!) and then some younger column still rums from Guyana and Trinidad and it`s a no-brainer which distilleries they must come from, namely DDL and Angostura.

In my opinion after I tried it in two Tiki cocktails – it`s a good start, but the pineapple flavor is strong and becomes a bit overpowering in the drinks and so you need to use it in small amounts. But it also depends on what you use with it. I haven`t tried it with a lot of different rums yet, it`s an ongoing process. But for what I used in these drinks, a small amount worked best and that`s when it did shine best, adding just enough of the flavor to stay balanced with the other ingredients.

The two drinks I made are these:

Hala Kahiki

1 oz Appleton Rare Blend, Jamaican rum
0.5 oz Coruba Dark, Jamaican rum
0.25 oz Tiki Lovers Pineapple rum
0.5 oz Alamea Hawaiian Coffee liqueur
1.5 oz fresh pineapple juice
0.75 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz banana syrup

Add all ingredients to a blender and flash-blend for 5 seconds with 1 cup of crushed ice. Pour into a Tiki mug. Garnish with a mini pineapple and a flower.

To make banana syrup: Add 2:1 amount of sugar to water, I used a light brown muscovado sugar. Add to a pan and heat up and stir until the sugar dissolves. Then add one banana that you mash a bit with a fork, cook the syrup a little bit for about a minute on medium heat. Take off the heat and let sit for an hour, then strain and bottle. I used 1 banana for about 1 cup of syrup.

I had a taste tester to help me give feedback on the drinks and his reaction to this drink was that “it tastes very exotic, the drink has layers and layers of flavor coming up and there`s something there I cannot really put my finger on… yeah, it´s exotic.”

Alamea Star

1.5 oz Clairin Sajous Haitian rhum
0.25 oz Tiki Lovers Pineapple rum
0.25 oz Green Chartreuse
0.5 oz Banana/Lemon Oleo Saccharum
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
Top with a little bit of Ting

Flash-blend with 1 cup crushed ice and pour into a double old fashioned glass. Top with a little bit of Ting (Jamaican grapefruit beverage) and garnish with pineapple chunks, lime slices and cinnamon dust on top.

For the Banana – Lemon Oleo Saccharum, there are plenty of recipes online. I used 1.5 oz superfine sugar per peeled lemon and banana. Cut the banana peels in smaller pieces.

My taste tester friend`s reaction to this drink was first a big smile on his face  🙂 then “yeah I like it, I like it a lot” -  it reminds me of a vacation to a special place, when we used to be sitting at the beach at sunset.

Glassware: Kahiko, designed by Daniele Dalla Pola for Libbey.

Tiki Lover`s Rum also have made a booklet called “Tiki Lovers Rum Camp” together with some very talented people. The booklet contains information about their rums, then there´s 27 “rum rhapsodies” recipes, aka “Exotic/Tiki Cocktails” both classic and new, with GORGEOUS garnish works and photography!

The Tiki Lovers brand is created band produced y Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck. As well as the layout and design of the book, together with Jochen Hirschfeld, who also did the art direction and gorgeous photography. The illustrations were made by Anthony Carpenter, Tanja Hirschfeld and Rudi Skukalek, and the Tiki charts were made by Sven Kirsten.

They also made a collaboration with  Sven Kirsten who made a chart called the “Circle of Tiki” which is a guide showing which elements make a bar a Tiki bar,  using the Tiki figure as its main element. Around this main element, are supporting ideas circling around the main focus, the Tiki. The supporting ideas are up to personal preference, some like the rockabilly stuff, while others like the monsters and etc. You need to see the chart to fully get this!

One thing though, when I say “it´s up to personal preference” I don`t mean that with Tiki, anything goes! it doesn`t. The circling elements need of course to have a connection to the Tiki culture and what those circling elements are is written in the chart.

There´s also a simplified version of the “The Evolution of Polynesian pop” chart which was first put into the Book of Tiki which was published in the year 2000.

The Tiki Camp booklet can be downloaded on Tiki Lovers website but the pdf version lacks the “Circle of Tiki” and the “The Evolution of Polynesian pop” charts. The Circle of Tiki can be found on the webpage though. The booklet was part of a Tiki Tour in California called The Californian “Van Hagen Punch” Tour visiting various Tiki bars during november. How I wish I could live in a country where things like that happens! but i`m really glad to have this Tiki booklet.