And what a TDN it will be. We have a superior theme: Tiki! We have a superior Guest: Jeff Berry! We have fabulous prizes: Greg Boehm is providing gold bar tools, Mudpuddle books will be offering up vintage reprints of classic cocktail books, Port of Barcelona Gin and Obsello Absinthe will be up for grabs, and let’s not forget Old New Orleans Cajun Spiced Rum as a prize.

Get your syrups and fruit juices and rums in gear and get on into TDN this Thursday night at the Mixoloseum’s online bar. We have a new full-featured chatroom to enjoy if you haven’t stopped in recently.

I’ll see you this Thursday, September 3rd!

Tristan over at The Wild Drink Blog hosts this month’s session and the theme is “Superior Twists.” In his own words:

This month’s Mixology Monday is all about twists on classic cocktails, that for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.

This could be as simple as a classic Margarita with a dash with a special touch that completes it, or maybe as complicated as a deconstructed Hemingway Daiquiri with a homemade rum foam/caviar/jus/trifle. It might be taking a classic like a Manhattan and using Tequila instead of Bourbon?

Well, as chance would have it, my twist is a Manhattan — with a twist, no less. One fateful night, Murray Stenson said the now fateful (to me) words: “Well, have you had a Manhattan with Punt e Mes?”

“Punt e Mes,” Says I: “What’s that?” The bottle came out, the cocktail was placed before me. Little did I know it was also new and glorious world he was also placing before me. So I’ll honor that epiphany with what I do to Manhattans whenever I’m drinking them, which is quite often.

Too often enough as luck would have it. I take my Manhattans with rye and I’m fresh out.¹ I instead subbed Bulleit Bourbon for the whiskey.

Black Manhattan²
2oz bourbon (or rye)
1oz Punt e Mes
dash simple
dash aromatic bitters³
orange twist

Stir ingredients and pour into cocktail glass. Express orange oil onto cocktail and garnish with orange twist.

I adore how the orange oil mixes with the deep gorgeous depths of the bitter and herbal Punt e Mes. A million thanks to Ben and Kacy and Murray for pushing me off that cliff three years ago. Cheers!

1. anyone want to send me any?
2. or Dark Manhattan, &c. you’ll find it named all kinds of things
3. anyone want to give me a lead on the Bitter Truth’s aromatic? Yum.

As Heather my wife likes to say, there is no guilt in pleasure. I myself find guilt (and for that matter regret) is a useless emotion. You should learn from your mistakes and not make them in the future, or accept yourself for who you are. However, who you are (no matter how healthfully introspective you are) can be quite embarrassing.

I might be a “Tiki Blogger.” but I really love whiskey. It’s usually Old Crow or Even Williams white label bourbon. But most often It’s the mixed whiskey Seagram puts out under the Seven Crown label. I top it with 7-UP. This is also the first drink I’ll go to when ordering from a bar where lets just say I won’t get something depeche mode.  When I’m at home and I don’t feel getting out a shaker or even a jigger, I make myself a delicious 7 & 7.

7&7
~2 oz Seagram’s Seven Crown Whiskey
7-UP to fill

Add whiskey to rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Fill with 7-UP and stir. You’re welcome.

However, there are time when I have to break my habits, especially when a friend gets featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Eric Felton (of How’s Your Drink? ) and columnist at the WSJ today published a column covering The “good” tiki resurgence, tying it a bit into the escapism of troubled economic times.

It is a wonderful information piece — It is quite nice to read about Polynesian Pop where the author gets it Right. I might enjoy the drinks at Trad’r Sam’s more than he, but he is spot on.

Martin Cate and his Forbidden Island get a good mention in respect to their rightful lead of the properly done (hopeful) future of the Tiki Bar.

But don’t take my word for it! Go and read it yourself!

Congratulations, Martin! I can’t wait to see you this Thursday.

I along with the other winners will be on Forbidden Island‘s Fall specials menu. I’ll be enjoying having someone other than myself make it when the Mrs. and I attend Tiki Central‘s eighth annual Tiki Crawl, the crawl that started it all.

If however you are far from Alameda or Portland, I share the recipe with you below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.

Gantt’s Caipirissima
¼ Grapefruit, cut into 3 or 4 pieces (White grapefruit if seasonally possible)
1 oz Cinnamon Syrup (or 2 Tbs Cinnamon Sugar)
2 oz rhum agricole (Clément VSOP preferred)

Muddle grapefruit and cinnamon syrup in a double old fashioned glass. Add 4oz of crushed ice and rhum. Stir to mix and garnish with cinnamon stick.

I name it thus because I’ve long noted the similarties in vegetal flavors (and methods) between cachaça and rhum agricole. Donn Beach had a warm spot for cinnamon and grapefruit — and with good reason: They love each other. Donn also liked the martinique paired with his Mix (Donn’s mix, 2:1 grapefruit juice to cinnamon syrup), so I thought all these separate points of information needed to come together in a cocktail. I name it a Caipirissima (a Caipirinha with rum instead of cachaça) because I’m pedantic. Rhum agricole may be simmilar to Cachaça, but not enough to pretend it warrants the position under the caipirinha umbrella.

As a child (and still as an adult), I would spend most of my time in Adventureland and New Orleans Square; these locations drove my imagination more than any other aspect of the park. I often joke that Disneyland ruined me for my sense of decoration; I feel the over-fantastical theme and attention to detail to be the norm. You can see a basic example of this phenomenon the Monkey Hut and the Buccaneer’s Bathroom at the old house.²

But enough about that, we were talking tiki. For the 40th anniversary in 2003, artists Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily sculpted a number of mugs. You may remember Kevin from his “Miehana” mug (and accompanying beachbum recipe in “Grog Log”). I’m lucky enough to have a Pele mug from this run.

The interesting thing is that one mug that was designed was not produced: The Rongo Bowl. Humuhumu wrote about this back in 2006. Well, lucky us. The 45th anniversary was another chance at a run of production and 500 Rongo Bowls were produced. On Monday, June 23 of this past June, Disneyland hosted a collectable event offering a grand selection of 45th anniversary merchandise. I was heartbroken that I could not make it down for the event. My good friend Brian did, however. He was unbelievably kind enough to get me a Rongo Bowl of my very own.

For this great occasion, I felt a new bowl drink creation was in order. This would be my first attempt at a bowl drink, which is very exciting. Since Rongo is the god of agriculture, I felt a strong fruit forward flavor was necessary, as well as a floral and fresh aroma. After three attempts I decided upon the recipe.³

Rongo
God of Agriculture
In Tropic Lands the Legends Tell
Astounding Pioneers Did Dwell
This Wise Fella Began All-Flight
For Rongo Flew the World’s First Kite!

This bowl is deviously deceptive – there are four ounces of 80-proof spirit within. To honor Rongo’s invention of the Kite, this Rongo Bowl will send you soaring!⁴

Rongo Bowl
¾ oz orange blossom honey
¾ oz fresh lime juice
¾ oz fresh orange juice
¾ oz fresh white grapefruit juice
2 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
2 oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Coruba)
1 oz Demerara (Lemonhart 80)
1 oz Virgin Islands gold (Cruzan 2yr ‘dark’)
¼ oz orgeat
¼ oz passion fruit syrup
10 drops Herbsaint or other earthy absinthe (about 1/8th teaspoon)
3 dashes Fees Bros. old fashioned bitters

Heat honey to liquid and combine with all ingredients in mixing container. Fill Rongo bowl with crushed ice and pour into bowl. Stir with swizzle to cool and dilute. Garnish and serve.

photo and photodesign credit: Heather ‘Tikimama’ Gregg

1. Juan the “Barker Bird”, who was Jose’s cousin was originally outside, announcing the attraction. The crowds that would stand and watch him clogged the entry into Adventureland so he was removed
2. I feel these are now below what I wish to accomplish. Look soon for the plans, in-action shots, and creation stories for the new basement: “Colonel Tiki’s Cove”
3. Thanks to the help of Noel Henneman and the lovely Tikimama who were helpful in constructive criticism
4. Mary Poppins reference, “Let’s go Fly a Kite,” written by the Sherman Brothers who also wrote “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room” as well as numerous other works of genius

Ah, Bourbon.

Summer means bourbon in our household. When I’m not making a home-made version of Southern Comfort (recipe courtesy of Martin Cate) or Stone Fences (courtesy David Wondrich), I’m drinking it straight, in Manhattans, as an improved cocktail, or as my current favorite featured in this very MxMo.

The Live Journaling mastermind(s) at Scofflaw’s Den are hosting this round of MxMo. It’s the last MxMo before the big bash in the big easy. I can’t wait.

Now, Trader Vic had a great recipe for the Honi Honi that you can find at my good friend Blair’s site. Apricot Brandy, Lemon and Rum mixes together as a gorgeous double Kiss (honi honi is kiss kiss in Hawaiian). However, as time went on, the Honi Honi that Trader Vic served in his restaurants changed recipes to be become a Mai Tai with bourbon.

Don’t let that seemingly lazy change fool you: this concoction is a masterpiece. This is far more than a bourbon Mai Tai. I thought this a perfect occasion to open my bottle of Trader Tiki’s Vanilla Cane Orgeat and it really shines. You see, when I make my domestic SoCo, I use vanilla syrup instead of Martin’s suggested Honey. The wife has a fondness for Vanilla (and bourbon), and I thought the Orange-vanilla aspect would suit the round sweet undertones of a decent sour mash. And it does. Oh, does it. I wanted to repeat that success in this Honi Honi with Trader Tiki’s specialty Orgeat and the Orange of the Clement Creole Shrub. I personally add Regan’s Orange bitters to round out the drink. Delicious.

Honi Honi

2 oz Bourbon
1 oz fresh lime juice
½ oz orgeat (Trader Tiki’s Vanilla Cane Orgeat)
½ oz Orange Curaçao (Clement Creole Shrub)
dash Regan’s Bitters

shake with 4 oz crushed ice and pour into a double rocks glass.