We all know that Tikidrinks has exotic and/or weird names and the third drink in Grog Log certainly has exactly that: Aurora Bora Borealis…what does that mean? it sounds like the name of some sort of exotic sea creature…or the scientific name of some parasitic plant species living in the cloud forest or maybe some sort of sea star?
Seeing that name on a drink menu in a tiki bar wouldn’t give any hint of what this exotic drink may contain but to tell you the truth, I could order it for the name alone.. The “Bora” in it reminded me of the beautiful island Bora Bora.
I had to find out the meaning of this name and the only way to do it was to turn to the author of Grog Log himself, namely our own Jeff Beachbum Berry who says the name is a combination of space-age and Tiki references — the Aurora Borealis and the island of Bora Bora. Well, i accept that – Bora Bora is like i said, my dream destination after Moorea..
In my opinion a good cocktail starts with fresh ingredients and there´s good fresh juices in this one.
AURORA BORA BOREALIS
0.5 oz Coco Lopez coconut cream
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
¼ oz orange juice
tsp orgeat syrup
1 oz dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz light Puerto Rican Rum
Blend with ½ cup crushed ice on low speed for 15 sec. Pour into large cocktail glass.
I find this cocktail very tropical indeed and also quite refreshing. If you don`t like coconut then this isn`t for you but if you like me just love it, well – then give it a try! Its a bit on the sweet side.
The next, which is made in honor of the preservation of the sea turtle is a twist on this one using blood orange juice, fresh lime, vanilla syrup and honey. To this goes El Dorado 3 year old cask aged white rum and Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced rum, two of my favorite rums. Its also a little bit sweet and tropical drink – as it should be in this case. But the Angostura bitters and spice from the ONO rum saves it from going too girlie i think.
The name Honu iti means little or small turtle. On Bora Bora there´s a sea turtle sactuary at Le Méridien which may be the only resort in the world with its own colony of this endangered specie. It may sound like a tourst trap but its about much more than entertaining tourists. They have returned some 500 turtles to the wild – which in reality is only one teardrop in the ocean but none of those 500 turtles would be alive today had they not been rescued by the resort.
The green sea turtle is green because thier body fat is green – because they turns vegetarian as they mature. They can become 80-90 years old in comparaision to the tortoise which can reach an age of 250. Only one out of 1000 baby sea turtles will reach adult size, so they are very vulnerable. The turtle or Honu is my lucky animal and no matter what how good people say turtle soup is, i could never eat my lucky animal..
Here you can read more about the sea turtles on Bora Bora.
HONU ITI
0.5 oz Coco Lopez coconut cream
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
¼ oz fresh blood orange juice
0.5 oz tahitian vanilla syrup
1 tsp liquid honey
dash Angostura
1 oz El Dorado 3 year old white cask aged rum
1 oz ONO Cajun Spiced rum
Blend with ½ cup crushed ice on high speed for 15 sec. Pour into large cocktail glass. Garnish with a vanilla bean and if you have it – a lovely orchid.
What could the words Bora Bora and horror possibly have in common?
Speaking of Bora Bora, I can definitely relate to ordering something for the name alone. Last I knew, the Tonga Room here in SF had a drink called the Bora Bora Horror. I don’t remember what it was like, which might tell us something, but it was fun to order–surely the point.
Beautiful pictures!!!
Thanks Reese!
Helena – Havana Club Blanco is perfect for a Missionary`s downfall – you can look at it here – http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=3675
With the pineapple infused rum you could just make this:
A few fresh pineapple chunks, muddled in shaker with a tbsp liquid honey and juice of 1/2 lime and 0.5 oz simple syrup.
Then add the rum and shake thoroughly with ice, then double-strain into a glass half filled with crushed ice. Top with Ting (jamaican grapefruit beverage) or other grapefruit soda or Schweppes lemon. Add more crushed ice to fill and garnish with a pineapple leaf.
Its a variation of the Pineapple Delight – http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=15&page=2
If you like passionfruit you could try a PortLight, its a lovely drink with Bourbon.
http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=2821
To make passionfruit syrup, just make a simple syrup with 1:1 sugar and water, and add the meat from 3-4 passionfruits, let boil for 2 min, then cool and strain and bottle.
With your VX you can always make a Mai Tai. Do you have any other dark rum to pair with? Like Appleton Extra for example. Recipe for Mai Tai is almost everywhere on this blog.
Tell how it works out!
Cheers!
T
Your garnishes never cease to amaze me, Tiare. Absolutely beautiful. 🙂
-R
Thanks – if not a bother i would love to try making a tiki drink. I have Appleton Estate V/X as well as Havana Club anejo blanco. Also when i was infatuated with infusions i made a pineapple infused Bacardi Superior.
Love passionfruit, pineapple, mango! Have a farmers market nearby choke-full of various citrus and other exotic fruits 🙂
Hell i’m easy! 🙂
Once again thanks much!
Hi there! well then i think its time you try one;-) A good thing with these drinks is that they contain fresh ingredients and much fruit juices that mostly perfectly balances the spirits – if they are made in a good tiki bar because there´s much crap out there.
What flavors and fruits do you like? what rums do you have? and what other spirits do you like? – i might be able to come up with a few suggestions of good tiki drinks you can make.
As for the orchids, i have learnt much since i have grown orchids for about 15 years now;-)
Cheers!
T
a confession to make – i never had a tiki drink :blush: – but these recipes look enticing – maybe i should finally get that Beachbum’s book i have in my wishlist and opened those bottles of rum i hardly use 🙂 …
so this is where your knowledge of orchids comes from – npw i understand 🙂