Category: summer menu

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The Planters Punch (Smuggler’s Cove recipe)

The Story

We couldn’t have a summer menu without some TIKI in the mix! The Planter’s Punch is a quick and easy tiki cocktail that can be made with either a blender or a cocktail shaker. The blender is the traditional way to make it, and there are cheap options that also make excellent milk shakes!

Rum is a tricky element in tiki, because the magic is found in the specific type and often (though not in this drink) in the combination of flavors. Stick with an aged rum for this one (not white, spiced, or (yikes) coconut!). The flash blend is also pretty straight forward here. Get all the ingredients in the tin, along with a bunch of ice that you smashed into a crushed state with your Lewis Bag and Mallet, and then pound that high button and run for 5 seconds. And then do it 1-2 more times. That will nicely mix and aerate the cocktail. Then simply open pour straight into your chilled glass and grab a straw (this one is VR Enabled!

Cheers!

The Recipe

3oz Jamaican Rum (appleton 12 year is nice)

0.25oz All Spice Dram

1oz Fresh Lime Juice

0.75oz Demerara Syrup

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Semi-Crushed Ice – best (and most enjoyable!) method is using a Lewis Bag and Mallet to create the ice, starting with standard cubes

The Build

Add all ingredients to a stainless steel cup (comes with blender)

Fill with semi-crushed ice (made with Lewis Bag and Mallet, see above)

Flash blend (4-5 second bursts, 2-3 times)

Open pour into a chilled highball or Zombie glass

Garnish with sprig of Mint (slap it to wake it up first)

No Blender? No Problem!!

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker

Fill with semi-crushed ice and shake for 10-12 seconds

Open pour into a chilled highball or Zombie glass

Garnish with sprig of Mint (slap it to wake it up first)

Source: Smugger’s Cove Recipe (also found in their great BOOK)

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The Japanese Cocktail (two ways!)

The Story

This week’s cocktail features a common tiki element without the complexity of the majority of tiki drinks. Orgeat is a syrup made from almonds and sugar. It’s possible to make it at home, but we recommend getting a nice bottle from the store.

The Japanese Cocktail is an old cocktail and very simple. We found it in the book, “3-Ingredient Cocktails” by Robert Simonson (NYT cocktail writer).

Reactions to this cocktail have been mixed, and so we also went looking for any variations on the classic recipe and quickly found one with our cocktail bar Godfather, Anders Erickson. We are including both the classic and improved versions this week for you to explore!

Cheers!

The Recipe

2oz Cognac

0.5oz Orgeat

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

The Build

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass

Add ice and stir for 30 seconds

Double strain into a chilled coupe

Express lemon twist and drop into glass

Alternate Option

Improved Japanese Cocktail

1.5oz Cognac

0.75oz Orgeat

0.75 Lemon Juice

2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake for 12-15 seconds

Double strain into a chilled coupe or nick and nora glass

Express lemon twist and drop into glass

Source: 3 Ingredient Cocktails and Anders Erickson (alternate option)

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The Jungle Bird

The Story

Campari is a challenging bottle. It’s a divisive bottle. There are those who love it and those who hate it. It is the mother of all Aperitifs, and you will be hard-pressed to find a bottle featuring such bitterness. But in a well-built cocktail, bitter does have a place. Perhaps you’ve poked at the genre with Aperol? Or at the very least mixed your martini with a dry vermouth. That’s a start.

We went looking for an “entry level” cocktail for Campari, and discovered that you can buy a smaller bottle (which isn’t the smart choice if you’re planning to mix with it often, but not a bad idea if you might get 2 ounces out and dump the rest). The Jungle Bird is an approachable campari cocktail. Based in Rum and dominated not by the bitterness, but rather by the Pineapple. The recipe we used from Steve the Bartender calls for 1.5 oz of Pineapple Juice, but we found that to be too fruit forward, so we dropped it back to 1.0 oz. We also made a version pulling back on the Campari to 0.5oz, but again that took the drink out of balance and it was all about Pineapple again.

The recipe below is a good balance of the citrus, the sweet and the bitter. The rum didn’t seem to matter. We used Appleton 12 year, but probably most aged rums will work. Just don’t get creative with Spiced Rum or similar, as the balance is delicate with this “bird”.

Properly built, the citrus will hit first and a slight bitterness will be the finish. If you are Campari curious, this might be the cocktail for you!

Cheers!

The Recipe

1.5oz Aged Rum

0.75oz Campari

1.0oz Pineapple Juice (can is okay)

0.5oz Fresh Lime Juice

0.5oz Simple Syrup

The Build

Chill a Lowball Glass

Add all ingredients to a shaking tin

Add ice and shake for 10-12 seconds

Fill prepared glass with fresh ice cubes

Strain cocktail into glass

Garnish with an orange slice and cherry

Source: Steve the Bartender (slightly modified)

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Tradewinds (VR-Enabled)

The Story

This tiki drink has a fun garnish that should not be optional. It’s pretty satisfying pushing a cocktail umbrella inside out, as if blow back by the wind. So don’t skip that step. Umbrellas are cheap.

This tiki drink is all about balance. Lots of citrus balanced against a couple of rums. Don’t use spiced rum, just because it is usually black in color. The rum in the link is also very cheap and easy to find. No need to overthink it. For lightly aged rum, I almost always go with Appleton 8 or 12.

Cheers!

The Recipe

1oz Fresh Lemon Juice

1.5oz Coconut Cream

1oz Apricot Liqueur

1oz Black Blended Rum

1oz Blended Lightly Aged Rum

The Build

Add all ingredients to a mixer tin (or blender)

Add 12oz crushed ice and 4-6 agitator cubes

Flash blend for 5-10 seconds

Open pour into a high ball or Zombie glass

Source: Smuggler’s Cove Cocktail Book

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Twelve Mile Limit (VR-Enabled)

The Story

This was a very popular cocktail during the Summer months. Make sure to make your own Grenadine (it’s too easy to go with store-bought options).

This is also one of the few tiki cocktails that doesn’t call for a Hamilton Beach blender. All you need to your handy cocktail shaker and you can be sipping in the sun in no time. Even if it’s freezing outside!

Cheers!

The Recipe

0.5oz Fresh Lemon Juice

0.5oz Grenadine (homemade is best)

1oz Blended Lightly Aged Rum

0.5oz Rye Whiskey

0.5oz Brandy

The Build

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker

Add cracked or cubed ice and shake for 15 seconds

Double strain into a chilled coupe glass

Source: Smuggler’s Cove Cocktail Book