Elixir for the Soul • Posts Tagged ‘orange’

Yellow Boxer

Tequila - 1 3/4 oz

Lemon Juice - 3/4 oz

Orange Juice - 3/4 oz

Lime Cordial - 3/4 oz

Galliano - 1/4 oz

Shake everything with crushed ice and strain into a tall glass filled with fresh crushed ice.

By Charles Schumann of the Hemingway Tropical Cocktail Bar, Köln, Germany, 1981. The drink itself isn’t all that amazing, but it’s always nice to have a change from the usual heavy-rum based Tiki drinks. The drink is quite well balanced, lime cordial cut down the sourness from the citrus with the help of Galliano, but still leaves the drink with a gentle tartness; the small amount of Galliano really doesn’t affect the flavour much, it’s drowned out by the tequila, and the rest of the flavours from the preserved lime juice, lemon and orange just don’t work well together in my opinion. A good quality tequila would improve it to a certain extent.

Halekulani

Okolehao - 1 1/2 oz

Lemon Juice - 1/2 oz

Orange Juice - 1/2 oz

Pineapple Juice - 1/2 oz

Grenadine - 1/2 tsp

Angostura Bitters - 1 dash

Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

From the House Without A Key lounge in the Halekulani Hotel, Waikiki Beach, circa 1930s. Slightly tart, but fairly rounded I’d say. You can substitute okolehao with bourbon (or rye).

Oceanic Punch

Light Puerto Rican Rum - 1 1/2 oz

Lime Juice - 3/4 oz

Orange Juice - 3/4 oz

Grapefruit Juice - 3/4 oz

Lemon Juice - 1/2 oz

Simple Syrup - 3/4 oz

Shake everything with ice and pour into a tall glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Created by Dean Short of the Ports O’ Call restaurant, Tuscon, Arizona, circa 1960s. Very straightforward, four citrus juices, sweetener and spirit, nothing complex here, this makes the drink very light but very tart indeed, 3/4 oz simple syrup makes it barely drinkable, but don’t worry about it too much if you prefer a tarter drinks like me, otherwise increase the simple syrup to 1 oz or more.

The Reef

Light Puerto Rican Rum - 1 oz

Passion Fruit Liqueur - 1/2 oz

Triple Sec - 1/2 oz

Lime Juice - 1/2 oz

Shake everything with ice and strain into a coupe glass containing one ice cube.

“Like a reef, there is a dangerous element lying under the cooling surface of this one.”

From the Reef restaurant, Long Beach, California, circa 1962. For the passion fruit liqueur, Alizé is recommended. Think of it as a Daiquiri sweetened with orange and passion fruit liqueur, the sweetness is overpowering, yet it doesn’t mask the tart and bitter lime. Passion fruit liqueurs aren’t commonly used in Tiki drink, it’s always been passion fruit syrup, juice (nectar) or purée, but there is something very distinctive from the rest in liqueur, certain flavours that very much stands out in a cocktail, it felt very familiar indeed, I just can’t put a name to it…

Hawaiian Village’s Blue Hawaii

Light Puerto Rican Rum - 3/4 oz

Vodka - 3/4 oz

Lemon Juice - 2/3 oz

Simple Syrup - 1/3 oz

Blue Curaçao - 1/2 oz

Pineapple Juice - 3 oz

Shake everything with ice and pour into a tall glass.

Created by Harry K. Yee, the head bartender of the Hawaiian Village Hotel, Waikiki, 1957. The Blue Hawaii, also called Blue Hawaiian, has hundreds of versions, some are fine, most are awful. This version here is believed to be the very original, created it as an advertisement for the Bols company to sell its blue curaçao. Unlike some of the modern takes, cream or coconut cream were not included, but I certainly think a bit of diary can improve this drink a lot.

Whenever you see “sweet & sour” presented in cocktail recipes, always switch it to 2 parts lemon juice to 1 part simple syrup, there are no excuses for not using fresh ingredients.

Mystic Lamp

Gold Puerto Rican Rum - 1 1/2 oz

Lychee Juice - 1 1/2 oz

Orange Juice - 1 oz

Lime Juice - 1/2 oz

Almond Extract - 3 drops

Shake everything with crushed ice and pour into a tall glass.

From the Kon-Tiki restaurant, Chicago, 1962. Quite soft and diluted to me, from the amount of crushed ice; unfortunately the lovely lychee juice is quite hidden behind the orange and rum.

Kon-Tiki Mai Tai

Dark Jamaican Rum - 1 1/2 oz

Gold Puerto Rican Rum - 1 1/4 oz

Lime Juice - 3/4 oz

Orange Juice - 3/4 oz

Honey Mix - 3/4 oz

Ginger Syrup - 1/4 tsp

Pernod - 6 drops

Angostura Bitters - 1 dash

Blend everything with 1/2 cup crushed ice and pour into a specialty glass or snifter. Add more crushed ice to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig and pineapple slice.

From the Kon-Tiki restaurant, Cleveland, 1961. This is Mai Tai not based on Trader Vic’s, but based on Don The Beachcomber’s Q.B. Cooler. Strong and complex, two of my favourite attributes in Tiki drinks. It’s fair well balanced, flavours from the rums are on the tip; the orange and lime resembling the flavour in Trader Vic’s Mai Tai (lime and curaçao); what differs it from the regular Mai Tai is the spices from clover honey, anise-flavoured liqueur/spirit, ginger and bitters.

Ginger syrup, aka ginger-infused simple syrup, is one of those ingredients that are so easy and cheap to make, you’d feel daft to purchase commercial ones. Ginger doesn’t cost anything, nor does sugar and water. Cut a 2 inch long ginger into thin slices, in a pan, boil it with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water until the sugar fully dissolves; allow the mixture to simmer for 2 minutes, then turn the heat off; cover the pan and allow it to cool for at least 2 hours before bottling. Making it this way is both cheap and fresh.

To make the honey mix, combine 1 part clover honey (or regular honey) and 1 part hot water. Stir until mixed, wait for it to cool, then bottle.

For the gold Puerto Rican rum you can use Bacardi 8 or just regular Bacardi Gold. For the dark Jamaican rum, Beachbum recommends Appleton Estate Extra for the best result, or substitute with Myers’s.

Zoom Info

Camera Panasonic DMC-FS6
ISO 160	Aperture f/2.8
Exposure 1/30th	Focal Length 5mm

Big Bamboo

Gold Cuban Rum - 1 oz

Dark Jamaican Rum - 1/2 oz

Passion Fruit Syrup - 1/2 oz

Grapefruit Juice - 1/2 oz

Orange Juice - 1/2 oz

Lime Juice - 1/2 oz

Angostura Bitters - 2 dashes

Blend everything with 1/2 cup crushed ice and pour into a bamboo mug or tall glass.

Created by Mariano Licudine of the Mai-Kai restaurant, circa 1960. This is the forerunner of Mara-Amu, another drink invented by the very same person. The differences being, Mara-Amu contains three rums, one light, one gold and one dark, whereas the Big Bamboo only as two, and one of them is gold Cuban rum instead of Puerto Rican; not hugely significant I know. Secondly, this drink has a extra few dashes of bitters which wasn’t found in the Mara-Amu.

Originally served in a bamboo mug, either a ceramic bamboo mug, or a mug actually made from bamboo. I’m sure the latter would be harder to clean and keep fresh. Or like me, you can use a bamboo shaped glass, of course due to the large volume of it, I had to double everything to fit the glass.

For the golden Cuban rum, you can choose anything between Havana Club 3 Años all the way up to 7 Años. Beachbum also allow substituting with Puerto Rican rum, if you choose to use substitution, I’d recommend a more complex grade, for lighter Puerto Rican rums tend to have a tasteless profile. So pick a good, aged Puerto Rican rum.

To make this a little more interesting than the Mara-Amu, I’m garnishing it with a bunch of mint sprigs, a spent lime shell, and finally, a few dashes of Angostura on the surface rather than in the drink, to bring the flavour of spices right on the nose.

Sleeping Giant

Light Rum - 1 1/2 oz

Orange Juice - 1 1/2 oz

Pineapple Juice - 1 1/2 oz

Lemon Juice - 1/3 oz

Simple Syrup - 1 tsp

Orgeat Syrup - 1/4 oz

Shake everything with crushed ice and pour into a tall glass. Add ice to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig and a maraschino cherry.

From the Lagoon Cocktail Terrace of the Coco Palms Resort, Kauai, circa 1950s. It was named after a hill nearby shaped like a sleeping giant. The drink is closely related to the Polynesian Paralysis, they shared almost the exact ingredients, except rum substituting okolehao. The drink was very basic, three juices sweetened orgeat. The original recipe used sweet & sour, which if you don’t know, is sweetened, bottled lemon juice, with other chemicals added for preservation, which is clearly something that should be avoided at all cost. There are some okay brands of sweet & sour (sour mix) out there containing very little additives, but nothing beats the freshly squeezed lemon juice and sugar. So I’ve translated 1/2 oz sweet & sour into 1/3 oz (2 tsp) fresh lemon juice and 1 tsp simple syrup. I actually find the simple syrup to be unnecessary, if you prefer a more balanced drink, increase the lemon juice up to 1/2 oz and omit the sugar (keep the orgeat though).

Mango Cooler

Vodka - 1 1/2 oz

Mango Juice - 3 oz

Orange Juice - 1 1/2 oz

Lemon Juice - 1/2 oz

Cointreau - 1/2 oz

Shake everything with ice and pour into a tall glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

By Thomas Mario, food and drink editor of Playboy magazine, circa 1970. Light and refreshing, the drink is not bad for summer; although it could have chosen a more interesting spirit in it, currently it just tastes a little bland. The fruits blends well together, you can hardly notice that it’s fruit medley. Mango doesn’t actually stand out for me, but rather the orange seems to form the core, this is due to the Cointreau; mango is in the background with a tiny hint of lemon. Use either mango juice or nectar, commercial juice and nectar are pretty much the same thing these days, even if it says “mango Juice” on the label, chances are it’s made with mango concentrate, water, sugar, and some other additive.

Camera Panasonic DMC-FS6
ISO 125	Aperture f/2.8
Exposure 1/30th	Focal Length 5mm

Camera Panasonic DMC-FS6
ISO 100	Aperture f/2.8
Exposure 1/30th	Focal Length 5mm