What's In A Name?

What's in a name?

Ernest Raymond Gantt. Sound familiar? No? How about Donn Beach? Yep,that's him. Donn changed his name when he started his Beachcomber chain of restaurants. Now I make mention of this because ol' Donn wasn't the only "Beachcomber" out there. Turns out there were a few scoundrels who tried to straight up rip him off by opening their own places called 'Beachcomber' and even ripped off the name of his classic Zombie drink. I learned all about this recently while reading Kevin Quigley's excellent book,New England Tiki. I highly recommend reading it as it gives the full story along with a lot of other fascinating Tiki stuff.

Now bringing this back to mixing,ol' Donn had a drink called Montego Bay. Thing is,if you search for this online,many of the results you'll find will be for drinks that have the same name,but are totally different(and not as good). Many use spiced rum(with one using light rum),different juices,and it may even contain ginger ale or creme de banana. But don't worry,Uncle Giltron won't let you waste your rum,I've got the proper Donn Beach recipe,as sussed out by our friend Beachbum Berry. And as with most of his drinks,the Donn knew what he was doing. Enjoy!

Mix #210 Montego Bay

1.5oz dark Jamaican rum 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz grapefruit juice 1/2oz honey syrup 1/4tsp allspice dram* 1 dash Angostura bitters 6 drops absinthe 3oz crushed ice

Blend everything for 5 seconds and pour into sour glass.

*About 1ml or 20-25 drops.

A classic Donn drink with lots of flavor. It starts with honey in the front,then a touch of spice,with some absinthe to finish. Complex and flavorful,use good rum because you'll taste it. Very nice.

And wouldn't you know,but ol' Trader Vic(AKA,Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr),also had a drink of the same name:

Mix #211 Montego Bay Cocktail

1oz Rhum Negrita rum* juice of 1/2 a lime** 1 dash triple sec*** 1 dash rock candy syrup*** 1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into chilled stemmed cocktail glass.

*I used Coruba. **I used 1/2oz. ***I used 5ml = dash.

From the 1972 edition of Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide,this is a very different drink from Donn's. It's very tart and close to a daiquiri or traditional sailor grog. Now the measurement 'dash' has changed a bit over the years,so I decided to go with five milliliters as it seemed about right for this. Rock candy syrup is double-sweet so I actually used ten milliliters of regular simple. The original recipe called for Rhum Negrita,which is very dark and considered a 'cooking' rum,so I subbed in Coruba which is a nice very dark rum I've enjoyed in the past. I'd also like to note that for some reason Difford's Guide chose to use Rhum Clement Blanc,which is a white agricole,and very different(and no idea why they would do this). So if you want to try a different daiquiri,just pick a fav rum and give this a try. You can also do like Difford's and play with upping the other ingredients to your personal tastes.

Well,that's all for this week folks. Keep checking in for more mixings. Aloha!

What's Nui with you?

Last week I did a Donn Beach classic,and this week I decided to keep rollin' with tha Donn by making another Beachcomber drink,the Nui Nui. Created in Hollywood around 1937,it was originally named the Pupule. But Donn later changed the name(after playing with the proportions) in 1953 when it was added to the menu of the Mandalay Bar in The Colonel's Plantation Beefsteak and Coffee House at the International Marketplace in Waikiki,HI. This was an interesting place where you picked your steak out from a butcher's case and they would cook it and bring it to your table. Fun fact,the Elvis movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style had recreated the restaurant for a dining scene,and an actual former Donn employee,Lean Lontoc,was the waiter serving Elvis his steak. Pupule is Hawaiian for "to make insane or act crazy" and nui means "big/large/greatest",so the second name is probably better as this isn't a strong drink,but it is tasty. Enjoy!

Mix #212 Nui Nui

2oz dark rum 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz orange juice 1/4oz cinnamon syrup 1/4oz Donn's Spices #2* 1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass with fresh ice. Can also be blended.

*1:1 vanilla syrup and allspice dram

Depending on who you ask,this drink can be shaken or blended. I decided to shake it. It's a spicy drink with lots of cinnamon burn and just a touch of vanilla on the end. Pretty good,but next time I think I'll double the Spices #2 just to counteract the cinnamon. The rum used can also be Jamaican dark or Virgin Islands amber,depending on the source. I used Appleton 12yr and it worked quite well. Feel free to use the rum,proportions,and mixing method you prefer to tune this the way you like it.

Remember folks,if you can't get to paradise,the Donn will bring it to you. Aloha.

An apple a day…………

The old adage states 'an apple a day will keep the doctor away'. That is unless you put the apple in a Tiki drink and have too many. Apple cider is used in many seasonal Tiki drinks,but apple juice is uncommon. Still,there are some recipes that use it. Here's a sampling to enjoy.

Mix #170 Tropical Blizzard

1oz coconut rum 1oz blue curacao 1.5oz orange juice 1/2oz apple juice

Shake with ice and pour into glass.

From Tiki Bar TV's fourth season holiday special,this is coconut and citrus forward with a curacao finish. It's good,but you really don't taste the apple. Use a good curacao like Senior because you will taste it.

Mix #171 Native Drum

2oz gold Demerara rum* 3/4oz sweet vermouth 2oz apple juice 1oz lime juice 1/2 simple syrup 1/4oz orgeat

Shake with ice and pour into mug.

*I used regular Lemon Hart.

From the drink card of Home Aloha's mug of the same name. Sweet,but not too sweet,this one you can really taste the apple juice. I used regular Demerara instead of gold and it turned out nice. If you like apple,you'll love this.

Mix #172 Floridian Fall

2oz Siesta Key spiced rum 2oz apple cider 1oz orange juice 1/2oz orgeat 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake everything until frothy,then pour into glass with ice.

From Siesta Key rum's website,this is sweet and spicy with an orange finish. An apple cider drink you can have year round. Also a fan of their spiced rum for my other mixings.

Mix #173 Untitled

1.5oz spiced rum 1/2oz bourbon 3oz apple cider 3/4oz lemon juice 1/2oz cinnamon syrup 1/4oz allspice dram 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and pour into mug.

Facebook user Michael Jobe posted this experiment to a Tiki recipe group. He said it was a little too diluted and sweet,and he was right. From the comments I added a quarter ounce of Cointreau and that helped. Some tweaking and this could be a nice Xmas drink. I might have to come back and play with this next year.

So you don't have to wait until the holidays to enjoy apple/cider in your Tiki drinks. I ke ola,huli pau!

Concentrate…con-cen-trate…

Trader Vic created the Mai Tai in 1944. It's since become the most famous Tiki drink,and my personal favorite. Normally you would need five ingredients to make one,but Trader Vic has products that will let you do it with only three. Rum,lime juice,and one of their mixers.

The first is Trader Vic's Mai Tai Mix. Now,all respect to the Trader's,but this really isn't worth getting unless you mean to mix a bunch of drinks for a cookout with non-Tiki people. If Mai Tais are pizzeria pizza,then this is Hot Pockets pizza. It makes Mai Tais that are a bit on the sour side and just aren't that great. Skip this.

Next is Trader Vic's Mai Tai Concentrate. This is actually pretty good. Two ounces of rum(two dark or one each of dark and gold),three quarters of an ounce of concentrate,and an ounce of lime juice and you have a passable Mai Tai. Not as good as a scratch made one,but pretty good. Think of it as frozen pizza. If you're going camping this would be an excellent way to have Mai Tais without dragging along five bottles. The concentrate has also been used to make other Tiki drinks,and here's a couple that I've made.

Mix #3 TV's Guava Tai

1oz gold rum 1oz light rum 3/4oz Trader Vic's Mai Tai Concentrate(not mix) 1oz guava juice 1/2oz lime juice.

Shake with ice and pour into Mai Tai glass.

A guava-flavored Mai Tai. If you like guava,you'll like this.

Mix #180 Pinky Gonzalez

2oz tequila 3/4oz Trader Vic's Mai Tai Concentrate 1/2oz lime juice

Shake with ice and pour into mug.

This Trader Vic creation is basically a tequila Mai Tai. If you like tequila,give it a try. They even have a Cinco de Mayo glass just for it.

Mix #181 Moku Nani(Beautiful Island)

1oz light rum 1oz dark rum 1/4oz Trader Vic's Mai Tai Concentrate 1/4oz orange curacao 1.5oz orange juice 1oz pineapple juice 1/2oz lemon juice 1/4oz lime juice 1/4oz passionfruit syrup

Flash blend with ice and pour into Green Marine Tumbler.

Tart and citrus-y,this would be a good drink for a hot day.

Mix #182 Drum of Ku

1.5oz 151 rum 1/2oz sloe gin 3/4oz Trader Vic's Mai Tai Concentrate 1.5oz cranberry juice 3/4oz lemon juice 1/4oz lime juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Flash blend with ice and pour into mug.

Woof. With an ounce and a half of 151,your head will beat like a drum if you have more than two of these. This is slightly tart with the cranberry juice coming forward and a Mai Tai finish. Quite good but very strong.

So concentrate on your mixings. It may not help you to find enlightenment,but you'll have some stories to tell.

Fangtastic.

Donn Beach created many famous Tiki drinks. One of the less common ones is the Cobra's Fang. This is due to the fact that a proper Fang is made with fassionola syrup. Fassionola is a bright red,sweet syrup made from a mixture of fruit juices and was supposed to be the syrup used in the original Hurricane recipe. Today,only a couple companies make proper fassionola making it difficult to find. Grenadine and even Hawaiian Punch have been used as a substitute,but they are not the same. While researching a posting on fassionola syrup,I came across the Fang and decided it needed its own posting. Here is the classic Don the Beachcomber Cobra's Fang:

Mix #187 Cobra's Fang

1.5oz dark Jamaican rum 1/2oz 151 Demerara rum 1/2oz falernum 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz orange juice 1/2oz fassionola syrup 1 dash absinthe 1 dash Angostura bitters

Flash blend with ice and pour into tall glass. Can also be shaken with ice.

Sweet and berry flavored,similar to a Hurricane but not as sweet. The falernum and absinthe add some spice to give it complexity,and the 151 gives it some punch. Think of this drink as a civilized Hurricane. A nice summer drink with layers of flavor that gives yo a nice buzz without completely slamming you.

Of course,as with most classic Tiki drinks,there have been many riffs made over the years. Here a few I've enjoyed.

Mix #188 Mai Kai Cobra Fang

1oz dark Jamaican rum 1oz aged Jamaican rum 3/4oz falernum 1/2oz fassionola syrup 1oz orange juice 3/4oz lime juice 1/4oz grenadine 1/4tsp absinthe* 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and pour into Zombie glass.

*About 20-25 drops.

The Mai Kai's spin on the classic Cobra's Fang. It's less sweet and more citrus-y with a bit less punch. Try both versions and see which you like the best.

Mix #79 Vampire's Fang

1.5oz Plantation OFTD rum 3/4oz grapefruit juice 1/2oz lime juice 1/2oz grenadine 1/4oz allspice dram 1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake with plenty of ice and pour into snifter glass.

From The Search for Tiki's 2022 13 Nights of Tiki Frights,it's citrus-y with a touch of spice. Much less sweet than the classic,it lives up to its namesake thanks to the overproof rum;it will bite you.

Mix #189 Sidewinder's Fang

1oz dark Jamaican rum 1oz demerara rum 1.5oz lime juice 1.5oz orange juice 1.5oz passionfruit syrup 3oz club soda

Shake everything except soda with ice and pour into large snifter glass. Add soda and stir.

From the former Lanai Restaurant in San Mateo,CA,this was created in the 1960's. It's tart and citrus-y with a sweet passionfruit finish. The three ounces of soda water it down a bit,if I were to do it again I would cut it in half. And interesting spin on the classic. If you're not into sweeter drinks,give it a try.

So enjoy a Fang drink,but don't put away your bottle of fassionola just yet. I'm working on a full post featuring the scarlet syrup.

Hallelujah!

So your Uncle Giltron finally did it;after a year of searching,I finally found a bottle of Green Chartreuse at one of my local liquor stores:

Ta-da!

Now you may be wondering why this is such a big deal. Well the fact is,you can't just walk into any old store and pick up a bottle of it like it was Bacardi. This liqueur is actually made by monks who only produce a certain number of bottles a year in the monastery La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble,France. Because of this,it can be very hard to find,as well as expensive.

(the actual monastery)

The story goes that in 1084,St. Bruno of Cologne traveled to the Chartreuse Desert(not really a desert,it was just really isolated) with six companions and created a silent order of Roman Catholic monastics known as the Carthusians. In 1605 François-Annibal d´Estrées,the King of France’s Marshal of Artillery,handed over to the Carthusian monks of Paris a document of mysterious origins which supposedly contained the recipe for an “elixir of long life". Time passed,the monks studied the document,and finally in 1737 the manuscript was transferred to the monks of the Grande Chartreuse. They in turn studied it and experimented(one of their early formulas was actually red) and finally in 1764 created a seven page manuscript entitled,Composition of the Elixir of Chartreuse. This elixir is what is today known as Green Chartreuse. Fun fact,the color chartreuse is actually named for this liqueur. Later in 1838 they would also come up with another liqueur,Yellow Chartreuse,which is much easier to find,but not as potent(Yellow Chartreuse is supposed to use the same ingredients,just in different proportions).

So what is Green Chartreuse? It's an herbal liqueur made up of 130 ingredients. The exact recipe is a closely guarded secret,known to only three Carthusian monks. Supposedly,there are two monks who each have half the formula,with the Father Superior being the only living person to have the full recipe. The monks produce about 1.2 million bottles a year,which sounds like quite a lot,until you look into companies like Bacardi,which produce 100,000 liters of rum a day(my bottle of Chartreuse is 3/4 of a liter). Green is stronger tasting and 110 proof,yellow is sweeter and only 80 proof. The taste is very,um,'herbal'. It's really hard to describe other than that. And at 110 proof,it has about as much punch as Navy rum. Back in the '70's there was a popular cocktail called Swampwater which used Green Chartreuse,but it fell out of favor,and today there are only a few Tiki drinks that use it,mostly because of its rarity,but also because the complex flavor isn't to everyone's taste(it really comes forward in the drink). So below you will find a coterie of Green Chartreuse recipes. I hope you enjoy them.

Mix #213 Chartreuse Swizzle

1.5oz Green Chartreuse 1oz pineapple juice 3/4oz lime juice 1/2oz falernum

Swizzle all ingredients with ice in glass and top with grated nutmeg.

Woo! Boy howdy! The first thing that hits you is a strong burst of herbs. The Chartreuse really comes forward. Then you get some spice from the falernum and nutmeg. Then one and a half ounces of 110 proof liqueur hit you. If you like herbal drinks you'll love this. This was created by Marco Dionysos at Tres Agaves in San Francisco and has become a Tiki staple with Chartreuse.

Mix #214 The Last Word

3/4oz Green Chartreuse 3/4oz gin 3/4oz marachino liqueur* 3/4oz lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into chilled glass.

*I used Cherry Heering.

This other Tiki Chartreuse staple was born at the Detroit Athletic Club around 1915. It's believed it was created by bartender Frank Fogarty. Its claims to fame are the fact that it uses equal measures of all the ingredients,and is a Prohibition-era drink that has survived into modern times. The Chartreuse and gin combine to create a very 'botanical' flavor with a cherry finish. I used Heering which is more sour than maraschino,but it turned out well. Again,if you like herbal flavors,you'll like this.

Mix #215 Swampwater

1.5oz Green Chartreuse 6oz pineapple juice 1/4oz lime juice

Pour into mason jar with ice and stir.

So Green Chartreuse is a rare liqueur consisting of 130 ingredients and crafted by monks who have taken a vow of silence. So of course here in 'Merica we're gonna mix it with juice,give it a silly name,and serve it in mason jars. Yee-haw! No,actually,you can't blame us for this. This drink was created by the Chartreuse company back in the 1970's to get Americans to drink it. We had free love and disco and simple but potent cocktails were popular in clubs,so the French figured this would be right up our alley. And it was,for a time. But just like disco,it faded into memory until your Uncle Giltron dropped a bunch of dosh on a fancy bottle of liqueur and then started trolling the waters of the internet looking for recipes to use it in. You can ask your parents if they remember this,but they probably won't,or won't want to(insert winky emogi). It's actually not bad. It starts sweet and pineapple-y,then gives an herbal finish. It's easy to make,easy to drink,and has some kick,which actually makes it a good summer BBQ drink. And if you use the whole bottle,you can scale up the juices and batch it for your cookout. Remember folks,if you hold your pinky up it makes drinking out of a jar classy.

Mix #216 Amazonian Paralysis

1 3/4oz Appleton 12yr rum 1/2oz Green Chartreuse 1/2oz sloe gin 1/2oz velvet falernum 1oz pineapple juice 1/2oz lemon juice 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and pour into Mai Tai glass.

Created by Disneyland bartender Melissa Erin Nickoloff,this is a complex Tiki drink Vic and Donn would have appreciated. It starts sweet,then you taste spices,and then there's an herbal finish. It also has plenty of kick. A proper Tiki drink and good for introducing people to Chartreuse. And of course the name gives me an excuse to use a Lynda Carter gif(insert second winky emogi).

So if you're looking to broaden your palette,and can find it,pick up a bottle of Green Chartreuse and get a taste of a rare liqueur with tons of history behind it. Enjoy!