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!

This past Thursday’s TDN was centered around Bols new launch of their Genever. It is a fabulous product. Right now it has limited availability and I look forward its expansion (and support from the OLCC, I hope). It has a mouth feel of velvet and a refined balanced flavor profile that ends in warm malty notes.

The strange late spring heat wave we’ve been having here in Portland directed me toward my concoction that I delivered to TDN. My friends Molly and Zorn (both PDX bartenders with decades of experience) introduced me to the wonder of chile peppers and fruit in cocktails. Greg Hoitsma over at Andina also has great success with Habañero and Passion Fruit (an amazing combination). I am particularly obsessed with the pineapple/lemon/simple/chile, featuring a good earthy chile such as a Jalapeño or a Serrano. For a Thai chile or birds-eye I think I might switch out the lemon for lime.

I’m very happy with the result from the below concoction. It is amongst the four finalists over at the Mixoloseum Blog. Please go over there to vote for it if you find it surpasses the competition, as I do. Also if you’re over there try out the “Malt Gasoline.” It’s a wonderful swizzle only slightly less of a winner than mine.

Photo courtesy Tiare (www.amountainofcrushedice.com)

G.V.D (godverdomme)
2 oz Bols Genever
½ oz pineapple juice (fresh, please)
½ oz lemon juice
½ oz vanilla syrup (sub simple)
few pinapple chunks
3 slices jalapeño or serrano chile
dash aromatic bitters (fee’s old fashioned, angostura, &c.)

Muddle pinapple chunks, chile, and juices. Add remaning ingredients and shake with ice to mix and form head. Double strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lemon twist (or as Tiare has in her beautiful shot, pineapple wedge and chile).

RumDood has a better and more informative post over at his digs, but to be brief: Mount Gay Rum is a perfect example of Bajan rum: Rich without being overbearing, smooth without being insipid. You can even taste the ocean breeze wafting over the coral containers they use in the distillation process. It’s heavenly. And the Extra Old which we’ll be mixing with? It’s almost a shame to mix it.

But mix it we will – We’ll just have to be sure to give it the respect it deserves.

Join us this Thursday, April 9 @ 4pm PDT. We usually go on until the wee hours of the night. Point your browser over to the Mixoloseum Bar for the fun! See you there!

1. or so the Bajans claim. I like to believe them.

What’s that you say? You don’t know what Thursday Drink Night is? Well, click yourself over to The Scofflaw’s Den to catch a video which will explain it all to you.

Don’t want to bother with nifty videos? OK. TDN is a mixoloseum event where a healthy group of us online cocktail types get together at the Mixoloseum Bar chatroom and mix drinks on the spot, based on a theme. We have a mighty good time and produce a good amount of fabulous cocktail recipes.

This Coming Thursday, February 5th will be a special LIVE TDN hosted in yours truly’s Basement Tiki bar, The Monkey Hut in Exile. We’ll have a live webcam feed for you to cast your peepers on and we’ll have special guest stars showing up. The theme this week is Benedictine / B&B.

So, get your shakers, mixers, and B&B ready. Tune your browsers this Thursday to the Mixoloseum Chat Room and here to The Monkey Hut in Exile LIVE to catch all the fun. Too hard to get the recipes as they go by in the chatroom? Follow the TDN twitter and you’ll have the info at your fingertips! See you this Thursday!