Black Jack David

Several cocktails had denuded an orange of all its peel and it was time to squeeze before it went bad. I could’ve made a Bronx or a Ward Eight but kept thinking about the allspice dram from the previous post. Here it is with rye and rum, a beautiful combination.



Black Jack David

• 1 1/2 rye (Rittenhouse)
• 1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151
• 3/4 oz orange juice
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/4 oz cherry brandy (Heering)
• 1/4 oz allspice dram

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Rich, spicy and fruity without being heavy or very sweet. Nice with last night’s summer fog.

More Rooting Around

I’ve been experimenting with Root, the highbrow root beer spirit from Art in the Age. This round focuses on rum and its natural accompaniments: lime, brown sugar, absinthe—all of which go so well with Root too. I busted out the Lemon Hart 151 for this. You definitely could use the regular strength but like Mae West said, too much of a good thing can be wonderful.



Back to the Swamp

• 1 oz Lemon Hart 151-proof Demerara rum
• 1 oz Root
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1 dash absinthe
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas’ Decanter Bitters
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Stir brown sugar in lime juice until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and ice; shake well. Strain into an old fashioned and add fresh ice cubes. Mint sprig.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Rich and earthy with flavors of molasses and herbs. Remember to spank that mint.

When Black Friday Comes

If you’re reading this in the United States, you probably know it’s a big shopping day here. Whether you like that sort of thing or don’t, a tropical drink might help.



When Black Friday Comes

• 2 oz amber Martinique rum (Saint James)
• 2 tsp allspice dram
• 1/4 oz absinthe
• 2 oz lime juice
• 2 oz ginger beer

Shake all except ginger beer with ice and strain into a 10-ounce glass. Top with ginger beer and fresh ice. Mint sprig.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

For the rum, I went with Saint James Royal Ambre. It’s mellower than some other Martinique rums but the funk is definitely there, and it plays subtly with the absinthe and allspice. This drink should be good with Caribbean or Chinese food.

I use a lot of Fever Tree Ginger Beer—my favorite. It has the light body and clean flavor I prefer. The little market where I do most of my daily shopping stocks Bruce Cost’s Ginger Ale, tasty if a bit rich for highballs. It’ll work in the above recipe.

Maybe someday I’ll get it together enough to make Erik’s luscious-looking fermented ginger beer.

Booze Up Your Sherry

When it comes to wine cocktails, I find there’s no flavor compliment more felicitous than a good slug of liquor. The drink below by yours truly is an equal parts trio like Whispers of the Frost except with rum instead of port. Puerto Rican rum is a good choice for this Manhattan-type drink, though a more full-bodied style like Pampero Aniversario seems appropriate and would add interest.



W 67th St

• 1 oz rye
• 1 oz gold rum
• 1 oz East India Solera sherry
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Brandied cherry.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

For the sherry, East India Solera was what I happened to have though anything in the medium-to-cream zone would probably work. Or use madeira.

Heracles

Another rum sour. The variations are endless fun but the naming process is probably my least favorite part. You think of something striking, catchy, maybe even immortal—only to find out someone else thought of it too. And I balk at calling a drink the Martinez #12 or whatever, though there’s something to be said for having your number rediscovered in some future era of cocktail archaeology and anointed as a winner to eclipse all others of the same name, like the Corpse Reviver #2.

This here’s a riff on my own Hercules but with Martinique rum instead of Dererara. I used J.M.

Heracles

• 1 1/2 oz amber Martinique rum
• 1/2 oz Campari
• 1/4 oz brown crème de cacao
• 1/4 oz Cointreau
• 3/4 oz lime juice

Shake with ice and pour into a double old fashioned. Ice to fill.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I like Campari and chocolate, though it’s pretty subtle here in the presence of the funky J.M. There’s a bitter grapefruit effect between the rum and the Campari which appealed to both the housemate and me.

Two at a Time

Till the break of day we’re gonna set ’em up
Two at a time
Just be’s better that way when you set ’em up
Two at a time
Set up till the morning
Don’t say boys we don’t give you no warning
Till the break of day were gonna set ’em up
Two at a time

—Andy Bean, Two at a Time

We had some people over from work for a classic cocktail session, tasting lots of things in miniature portions—a fun evening. As someone who makes drinks primarily for guests at home, I often find myself mixing rounds of the same drink in quantity. Maybe I ought to get me some of that fancy vintage home bar gear that was designed for this purpose—big mixing vessels with fun decorations and ingenious pouring spouts, matching cocktail glasses, serving trays that look like carousels—but I never seem to get around to it. Maybe next time.

Anyway, I’d like to have the folks from work over again. They were a game crowd. The runaway hit that party was the Jack Rose, a favorite here at the Lounge. Seems funny that folks order these faddish pomegranate syrup things lots of times without realizing that it’s just good old grenadine. Here’s something similar.

Demerara Rose

• 4 oz Demerara rum (El Dorado 8)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz grenadine (Small Hand Foods)

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glasses. Makes two.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

My own current favorite variation of the rum and grenadine sour. My guests who liked the Jack Rose might try this one. Where the Jack Rose is snappy, this one’s rich and velvety.

Tangelo Terrarium

We’re enjoying the last evening of Tiki Month here at the Lounge with another original tropical climate in a glass. This one’s tangy and a little spicy, sort of a snifter-sized tangerine in crushed ice.



Tangelo Terrarium

• 2 oz gold Barbados rum
• 1/2 oz Swedish punsch
• 1/4 oz allspice dram
• 1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151 (float)
• 2 1/2 pink grapefruit juice, fresh
• 1 oz tangelo juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice

Shake all except Lemon Hart with ice cubes and strain into a large snifter. Add crushed ice. Float the Lemon Hart. Tangelo twist, mint sprig.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Sort of an aquatic terrarium—or a rum one. I like overproof floats on Tiki drinks for so many reasons, not least because they’re something to look forward to in all that crushed ice at the end.

FM

We’re celebrating Tiki Month here at the Lounge, a time of fantasy and frivolity to buffer us from those slings and arrows that give even the best people a bad time. And so we bring you another luscious libation, an elixir for grooving to the radio all night long. As Fagan and Becker say, “No static at all.”



FM

• 2 1/2 oz gold Barbados rum
• 3/4 oz white crème de cacao
• 2 oz grapefruit juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 2 – 3 dashes grapefruit bitters

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a double old fashioned. Fresh ice to fill. Grapefruit twist.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Grapefruit and chocolate in a delicate state of winter suspension.

Up the Beach

Aloha, people. Tiki Month is here again, and we welcome you to another fine tiki moment here at the Fogged In Lounge. Here’s a little libation by yours truly that ought to help you while away a bit of time in the shoals of contentment with some Wray & Nephew Jamaica rum, green Chartreuse and homemade crème de banane.



Up the Beach

• 1 1/2 oz Wray & Nephew overproof white rum
• 1 oz crème de banane (Serious Eats recipe)
• 1/2 oz green Chartreuse
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 1/2 oz soda

Shake all except soda with ice, and strain. Add fresh ice and top with soda.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Booze and Sympathy: Fun with Russian Caravan Tea Syrup

Russian Caravan is grand stuff, a blend of smoky Chinese teas that’s a natural compliment to cocktails. There was about a third of a cup of tea left in the tin. I made a simple syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, and added the tea the second I turned the heat off. (Strain after 5 minutes, cool, bottle, refrigerate.)



When We’re Alone

• 1 1/2 — 2 oz cognac
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 barspoon Russian Caravan tea syrup
• 1 tsp Cruzan Blackstrap rum

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE



Patience and Fortitude

• 2 oz bourbon
• 1 tsp Russian Caravan tea syrup
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas’ decanter bitters
• tangerine twist
• Small splash soda

In an Old Fashioned glass, muddle a broad, thin strip of tangerine peel with the bitters and syrup. Add ice and spirits and stir gently. Splash of soda.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Banana Colada

The banana: aromatic, starchy, ubiquitous. There is a race to rescue this important agricultural product from Panama disease, in case you didn’t know—pretty freaky, and a disturbingly apt metaphor for our time. I probably eat a dozen of the things a week, and would be at a total loss without them. That said, the banana’s a slightly strange drink ingredient, reducing your cocktail to a sort of alcoholic baby food. But the perfume of the banana has an allure irresistible—so much that I can’t help but try to make it work in various iterations.

Take the Banana Colada. According to the recipes I’ve found, this is a Piña Colada with banana in it. That sounds swell but I had hoped for a more direct banana-coconut relationship. Typically, these things are rarely as you imagine them, even on a Saturday with lots of planning and a guaranteed ride home. Nevertheless, I have whipped up, for your delectation, a pineapple-free Banana Colada. It does not quite have the merits of a fine Piña Colada but it is not a Piña Colada either, as far as that goes.

Special ingredients ingredients for this colada experiment: some homemade crème de banane—easy to do, even on a week night—and a little Licor 43.

Banana Colada

• 2 1/2 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
• 1 oz crème de banane (Serious Eats recipe)
• 1/2 oz Licor  43
• 2 oz Thai coconut milk
• 1 ripe banana, sliced
• 8 oz crushed ice

Blend at high speed about a minute. Banana, cherry, nutmeg garnish. Coconut mug.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I used Barrilito for the rum, which seemed a little woodier than I would’ve liked with the rawness of the fruit, but worked better as the drink had a little time to develop. I’m still not entirely won over by the starchiness of the smoothie cocktail concept, but this was highly drinkable. Those juice bars really ought to offer rum as an option. Now that would be a boost.

Rum Runner

Drinks that call for crème de banane had been far down on my list for a long time because the commercial bottlings available looked suspiciously like scented lamp oil. But in a moment of wild abandon, I ordered a Rum Runner with a friend while in Nevada and was ruined forever. It was a bubble gum flavored orgy of ecstatic perversion. “Banana! Banana!” I demanded, stamping my gorilla feet.

Luckily, it’s really easy to make crème de banane, as this Serious Eats recipe demonstrates. I pretty much just followed the recipe, waiting until my bananas were at the peak of aroma, and using Mount Gay Eclipse Silver for the base. I also add a few drops of vanilla extract for complexity. Worked great.

The Rum Runner recipe itself presented a few problems. All the ones I saw in my drink book library were blended. The ones my buddy and I got were made with bar ice. More importantly, they were made with things I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole if shopping for the house. How can you lose all dignity with a shelf full of only the good stuff? Well, that’s where we aim for the chopping block here at the old Fogged In Lounge. Below are a couple of craft Rum Runners that should toss you on the seas of dementia.

Rum Runner #1

• 1 oz Bacardi 151
• 1 oz crème de banane (homemade)
• 1 oz blackberry brandy (Leopold Bros)
• 1/2 oz grenadine (Small Hand Foods)
• 1 1/oz lime juice

Shake with crushed ice and pour into a chimney glass or tiki mug.

This one was adapted from the original by “Tiki John” Ebert, as presented in Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log. I went with crushed ice and slightly rounded off measures. It makes a fine Rum Runner. For a solution of my own that captures something of my Reno insanity, try the next one.

Rum Runner #2

• 1 1/2 oz Bacardi 151
• 1 1/2 oz crème de banane
• 1 oz blackberry brandy
• 1 oz lemon juice

Shake with crushed ice and pour into a chimney glass or tiki mug.

If that seems like a lot of 151, maybe it is, but it sort of dries the whole thing down and you’ll feel like you’ve been to the casinos, for better or worse—probably both.

Isle of Campari

Sometimes I walk up to the bottles and start grabbing things, going on impulse and not much premeditation. “This one’s gonna be with....” I have to be in an intense sort of mood, so it’s not surprising that I picked up two big tastes this time, white agricole and Campari. The rawness of the one is balanced by the bittersweetness of the other, with some dry vermouth to calm it down.

 Isle of Campari

• 1 1/2 oz agricole blanc (J.M)
• 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin)
• 3/4 oz Campari

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

Plastered Punch

Like the Singapore Sling, there’s some confusion about what actually goes in a Planter’s Punch. The things I remember seeing most often are Jamaica rum, grenadine and fruit—usually orange juice. It tends to come in a collins glass and not a tiki mug. And it’s not particularly tiki-fied, though a ceramic container might help with presentation. Molasses and orange juice tend to look murky together. The grenadine helps a little—not much. (I somehow remember big, good-looking, reddish ones served in hurricane glasses at Rockefeller Center when I was a kid. No clue what they tasted like.) After some experimentation, I’ve arrived at one I like that seems roughly consistent with other Planter’s Punches I’ve had.



Plastered Punch

• 2 oz gold Jamaica rum
• 1 oz dark Jamaica rum
• 2 oz pineapple juice
• 1 oz orange juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/4 oz grenadine
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters (Angostura)

Shake with ice and strain into a tall glass. Fresh ice to fill. Cherry, mint, straw.

OK—that there in the photo’s a sprig of basil. My mint was beyond resuscitation. Turns out basil’s actually a pretty good aroma with Jamaica rum. The combination of gold and dark rum is bright but keeps the bass note of the molasses.

For a fine study of the Planter’s Punch, drop in on Tiare at A Mountain Of Crushed Ice.

Bacardi Cocktail

I’m loving Small Hand Foods Grenadine, which seems to have improved since I first bought it a while back. It’s rich, bright and flavorful, and a clear natural red. I’ve been using it like crazy to make all the classic grenadine cocktails: Jack Rose, Ward 8, Bacardi Cocktail.



Bacardi Cocktail

• 2 oz Bacardi rum
• 1/2 oz fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1/4 oz grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

You gotta use Bacardi or it’s not a Bacardi Cocktail, is it? I’ve been using Bacardi 8, and sticking to the Embury 8:2:1 proportion or it turns into a lollipop. Personally, I don’t have a strong preference for lemon or lime for this.

Autumn Decade

I got the idea for this while sipping gold Rhum J.M one evening with some friends. Someone pointed out the apricot note in the rum, especially when it opened up a little with water. I’ve kept the apricot brandy in the background so you can still taste the rum. The color of J.M is apricot too.



Autumn Decade

• 1 1/2 oz Bacardi 8
  
• 3/4 oz gold Rhum J.M
• 2 tsp Grand Marnier
• 1 tsp apricot brandy
• 1/2 oz lime juice

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

Bittercube Jamaican #1 Bitters

Feeling in the mood for a dry, spirit-forward rum cocktail to try my new Jamaican #1 bitters from Bittercube, a bright combination of allspice, ginger and black pepper—all flavors I crave. Of course this calls for a big Jamaica rum.



Jamaica & Spain

• 1 1/2 oz Smith & Cross
• 1 1/2 oz fino sherry
• 2 dashes (24 drops) Bittercube Jamaican #1

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

Pistachio notes in the sherry get freaky with the woodsy funk of the Smith & Cross. A friend who likes whiskey cocktails was asking about rum analogs....

Need another rum fix? Doug is serving up the magic of Tiki Month in grand style.

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.

Persimmons: More Crazy Produce for the Juicer

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always want to buy persimmons. They look so neat. But I never really know what to do with ’em. I guess I could take the trouble to find out but never do. Or at least I didn’t until I decided to try throwing one in the juicer. There were two types available so I picked up one of each. Apparently, one can be eaten firm like an apple. The other one should be allowed to ripen to mush or you’ll end up with an indigestible ball in your stomach like that chewing gum horror story your first grade teacher used to scare you with. Seriously. Anyway, a variety to eat firm is the fuyu, which resembles a squat tomato. Core like a tomato, slice it up, stick it in the juicer. One fuyu gave me 2 ounces of sweet, mild flavored juice.



Rum Fuyu

• 2 oz 10 Cane rum
• 2 oz fuyu juice
• 2 dashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Very fresh and bright, and nicely balanced for sweetness. I tried not to slam it with a lot of ingredients because the persimmon is delicate. A little like pumpkin but fruitier.

Forbidden City

There was a half grapefruit in my fridge left over from the previous post, and I wanted to do something Tiki with it. This drink was inspired by descriptions of the old Forbidden Fruit pomelo liqueur, which seems to have been a fine thing indeed.



Forbidden City

• 2 oz gold Barbados rum
• 1 oz Demerara rum
• 3 oz fresh white grapefruit juice
• 1 tsp allspice dram
• 1/4 oz honey syrup (1:1)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a large, ice-filled glass. Long grapefruit twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The twist really makes this, contributing bright, delicate grapefruit top notes over the dark molasses and spice. I took the twist with a sharp vegetable peeler, removing a little pith with my bar knife.