Hope you had a great 2009. The Colonel will be back in 2010 to help you forget your pesky resolutions.

Cheers!

Seemed like Hot Buttered Rum Time.

2 Tablespoons ColTiki Hot Buttered Rum batter
1½ oz Rum of choice((I put out Coruba, A Martinique, and the Scarlet Ibis))
4 oz Hot Water
Fresh Nutmeg, Mace

Mix batter with 2 oz almost boiling water until dissolved. Add rum and stir while adding the last 2 oz of water. Dust with fresh ground nutmeg and mace.

I just love Black Cardamom – it has the same fabulous pungency mixed with a haunting smoky character that comes from the wood fires used to dry it.

I’ve been hanging on to it for a while and recently put it to good use macerating in blanco tequila. The smoke and camphor suit the agave.

Then the folks at eGullet host this month’s MxMo and the idea came to me: Milk punch using the black cardamom mixed with the flavors of horchata. Rice milk turned to be too thin; Milk likewise.  ½ & ½ was perfect.

So without further ado, I give you “Leche Libre.” Yes, a bit too precious a name but I like it.

Leche Libre
2oz Black Cardamom macerated Blanco Tequila
3oz ½&½
¾oz cinnamon syrup
nutmeg

shake all but nutmeg with ice and strain into glass coffee mug or brandy snifter filled with ice. Garnish generously with freshly ground nutmeg.

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!

Here is a teaser of things to come:

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).

–

SMUGGLER’S COVE COMING FALL 2009 TO SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO, CA- This fall, San Francisco will become home to Smuggler’s Cove, a new bar designed to celebrate the incredible diversity and versatility of the world’s most exciting spirit: Rum. Smuggler’s Cove offers a whole new approach to rum by featuring a vast array of traditional Caribbean drinks, classic libations of Prohibition-Era Havana, and famous exotic cocktails from legendary tiki bars- all under one roof. In addition, Smuggler’s Cove will offer an unparalleled selection of rare and premium rums from around the world carefully selected for enjoying on their own or skillfully blended into cocktails. For over a decade, owner and creator Martin Cate has been passionate about rum & tropical cocktails. He was the co-creator, designer and chief mixologist for Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge in Alameda, CA. He has judged in international rum competitions, met with over a dozen rum distillers in five countries, and lectured at Bourbon and Branch’s Beverage Academy, Tales of the Cocktail, and Tiki Oasis. “I am very excited to help showcase this wonderfully varied spirit both on its own and in delicious cocktails. A great rum drink can be simple and elegant, or complex and dynamic, but it must always be balanced, approachable, and just a pleasure to drink,” says Martin Cate. “Too often, people associate rum with syrupy and artificial drinks and we’re here to change that.” Martin has traveled the world to learn the rich history and explore the traditional spices and regional ingredients of the world’s rum producing countries in order to feature them in the cocktails of Smuggler’s Cove. As an award-winning mixologist and member of the United States Bartenders Guild for the last four years, Martin is committed to using only the best quality spirits, fresh-squeezed juices, and housemade ingredients. But while Martin is serious about the drinks, he knows that people are looking for a memorable and fun experience as well. “Smuggler’s Cove will be more than just a tiki bar, but it will feature the kind of dramatic, mysterious, and escapist atmosphere that makes a tiki bar so special- and makes rum taste better!” Smuggler’s Cove will include waterfalls, vintage nautical décor and rum memorabilia, and relics from some of San Francisco’s most famous historic watering holes. Smuggler’s Cove will open November 2009 in San Francisco, CA.

For more information, please visit http://www.smugglerscovesf.com/ and sign up on our mailing list to get all the latest news.

About Martin Cate: http://www.martincate.com/press.php

Contact Martin Cate at info@smugglerscovesf.com or 415-999-7929

This month the Internet’s favorite all-around superb stylish talented and popular fellow, Chuck Taggart hosts May’s Mixology Monday. He’s chosen Amaro for the theme.

Italian Amaros (Amari?) are bitter liqueurs meant to stimulate digestion or alleve indigestion if need be — digestive bitters. We’re all familiar with Campari and Fernet and likely some are familiar with Cynar which is made with artichokes. The Italians have dozens (if not near past 100) more. They are usually built on wines fortified with high-alcohol extractions of botanicals, spices, and bittering agents. Amaros are current loves of stateside bartenders who are reaching for something to suit the body of the cocktail more than the traditional shake of strong aromatic bitters for the nose of the drink.

I’ve loved every amaro I’ve tried withough fail, so I though it fitting to pair my cocktail with a liquor that I’ve been fighting to develop a taste for and until only recently failed: Tequila. Try as I might to find avenues and gateways into appreciating tequila (mescal, cachaça, etc.) it was no use. This was my bane – my last liquor to conquer and I had failed. That is, until recently. It just clicked into place – it finally made sense. Much to my relief I now have another color in my pallete and this is my first recipe using the toungue-timber of the hearts of blue agave. I hope you enjoy. I pair it with two of my favorite amaros: Cynar and Averna.

Amaro Amigo

½ oz Cynar
½ oz Averna
¾ oz Tequila Ocho Plata (or other 100% blue agave blanco tequila)
½ oz blood orange juice
¼ oz lime juice
½ oz Cointreau
dash cinnamon tincture (or cinnamon heavy bitters)
dash herbsaint

Stir with ice in mixing glass and double strain into cocktail glass. Olé

Thanks to Chuck for hosting!

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.

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.