cocktail notes » aged rum

classics: zombie

tyler k — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:25:12 +0000

here’s what i took from kaiser penguin’s zombie recipe comparison: a zombie is a complex, carefully proportioned mixture of anything i want to put in it.

i had a hard time finding passionfruit juice, so i used santa cruz ‘passionfruit nectar’ which is a pretty sorry substitute.

i also didn’t feel like buying any 151 just to use in this cocktail. (though i really should since i need to make a new batch of falernum) i substituted with 2 oz of 80 proof rum.

it appears from the recipe-roundup that multiple rums are encouraged, and so i put in a little aged rum. not too much because that brew got a righteous funk on.

1 oz lime + 1 oz lemon (i made a 5x batch, so what i did was squeeze lemons until i surpassed the 5 oz mark, then squeezed limes until i hit (exactly) the 10 oz mark)
1 oz pineapple juice (dole)
1 oz passionfruit syrup (that bullshit nectar shaken with sugar, 4:3 ratio)
1 tsp dark brown sugar
2.5 oz 10 cane rum
0.5 oz brugal aged rum
1.0 oz goslings dark rum
1 dash angostura

shake without ice for 30 seconds (to help dissolve the sugar), then shake with ice.

this tastes like what i think of as a quintessential tropical rum punch. sweet, but not cloying, complex, perfectly balanced, and can definitely get you fucked up real quick.

did you know that ‘charlene‘ by stephen and the colberts is available as a rockband song?

experiments: more with peach and punt e mes

tyler k — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 04:58:04 +0000

muddled a quarter of a medium-large yellow peach, tart but flavorful. mixed in 3 oz of punt e mes, double strained into a jar as the base mixture.

then mixed a bunch of mini-cocktails using 1/2 oz of the base mixture and 1/4 oz of a spirit. the spirits i used and my tasting notes are as follows

rye (rittenhouse)	yes! it works and it rocks
gin (bombay sapphire)	like a peachy martinez. delicious
aged rum (brugal)	even this is awesome? seriously?
citrus-vanilla infused bourbon (evan williams)	oh my goodness
tequila (azul reposado)	wowowowowow
dark rum (goslings)	holy fuck
brandy (paul masson vsop)	jesus fucking almighty
bourbon (evan williams)	classic as fuck

each drink perfectly highlighted everything good about the added spirit.

i’m thinking of calling the base mixture “penta-tonic” because it goes with anything! hahahaha omg im a nerd

other notes: to build the drink, i poured the base mixture into a small glass with two stacked ice cubes, poured the spirit on top of that, and stirred. it could be that adding the spirit last, and on top of ice cubes, creates a prominent aroma and an illusion of flavor, without making the drink too stiff.

trip reports: five and eccolo

tyler k — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:12:13 +0000

five:

basil gimlet – really delicious but the basil could have looked better. just for cosmetic reasons if nothing else.
unnamed drink – bardude comped me a drink in exchange for being a guinea pig. a brandy sour made with vanilla sugar, with an aged rum float. excellent, though there was a slight flavor of…wax? maybe from the rum?

eccolo:

smoke screen – rye, lapsang souchong, kumquat. delicious, but i had to send it back to get the kumquat viscera strained out.
southern gentleman – bourbon, charred ginger, apricot liqueur. also great.

all in all a pretty good week for cocktails!
and: i submitted a barback resume!