Skating

Greetings, folks. It’s the time of year when you might see a bowl of prefab eggnog at a party and know you shouldn’t go there, but you just can’t help but ruin your life, can you? Do you try to avoid it, or just give in right away and despise yourself for the rest of the weekend? You know it’s wrong, even as you kid yourself that the bottle of add-your-own next to it makes it all right—even legal—somehow. Like it’ll all balance out in the end. Sure, pal.

But wait—don’t touch that crap. How about a nice coconut drink instead?



Skating

• 2 1/2 oz gold Jamaica rum
• 1/4 oz Pernod
• 1/4 oz Galliano
• 1 tsp coffee brandy (Firelit Coffee Liqueur)
• 2 oz coconut milk
• 1/4 oz vanilla syrup (B.G. Reynolds’)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake hard with ice cubes and strain into a 14-ounce glass filled with crushed ice. Cherry, straw.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Coffee, anise and vanilla glide over a coconut-frosted rum pond. It’s wholesome—vegan, even. God Jul, Joyous Kwanzaa, grab your Gin-and-Tonic-ah, drink up.

Firelit Coffee Liqueur

St. George Distillery’s Firelit is truly coffee brandy in the sense that it is a coffee-flavored, brandy-based liqueur, and a fairly dry one at that. There are no vanilla or cacao notes. Sampled side by side with Kahlúa, it’s clear that Firelit would be strange in a White Russian. Simply put, it tastes like brewed coffee—at first, anyway. It’s got the strong vegetal note of a plain black iced coffee but with the warmth of brandy under it. This liqueur has obvious applications in after dinner drinks and tropical fantasy items like Mr. Bali Hai, but it also makes me think of the all-too-neglected category of Brunch Cocktails for Serious Drinkers. Yeah, let’s have some gin with that French toast.



All Lit Up

• 2 oz Junípero gin
• 1 oz medium sherry
• 1/4 oz Firelit
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Good any time of day except maybe before dinner. Coffee before dinner just seems weird. Hm—during dinner?



Mr. Bali Hai

• 1 1/2 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz sugar syrup
• 3/4 oz coffee brandy
• 1 1/2 oz light Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz dark Jamaican rum

Shake with crushed ice. Pour into a Mr. Bali Hai mug. Or if you’re like me and pathetic enough not to have the desired mug, a large snifter or something will be fine.
SOURCE: JEFF “BEACHBUM” BERRY, BEACHBUM BERRY REMIXED

While I still prefer Kahlúa in my cocoa, Firelit is more successful for Mr. Bali Hai. I tried the updated instructions in Beachbum Berry Remixed, and the drier quality of the Firelit is exactly right. It also works a little better visually with this recipe.

Mr. Bali Hai

Another recipe saved from extinction and brought to light by the great Beachbum Berry. Some tropical drinks are outstanding for their masterful synthesis of sought-after ingredients. Mr. Bali Hai is not one of those drinks, but it’s distinctive and conjures an era. It was formerly served at the Bali Hai restaurant in San Diego, where it came in the Mr. Bali Hai mug.

I was intrigued by the combination of coffee, pineapple and lemon, which sounded kooky but interesting, and it is. This drink has lots of personality. The recipe calls for Hiram Walker coffee brandy. I had Kahlúa so I went with that instead. It also calls for sweet & sour, and I used a mixture of 2 parts lemon juice to 1 part simple syrup. I recommend doing as the recipe suggests and putting it in a ceramic mug, or at least in colored glass. Otherwise it looks a lot like cola.



Mr. Bali Hai

• 1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1 oz sweet & sour
• 1/2 oz Hiram Walker coffee brandy (Kahlúa)
• 3/4 oz while Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz Myers’s rum

Shake with large scoop of crushed ice (about a cup plus some to fill) and pour into a Mr. Bali Hai mug or other large tiki mug.

Source: Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Intoxica!