Shiver Me Sphincters!

 

My first 'original' concoction, a riff on Puka-Puka Punch that was born from a bout of boredom and leftover ingredients from the previous day's Painkiller exploits.

 

Ingredients

• 3 ounces rum (for this iteration, I used 1 ounce Wray & Nephew Overproof, 1 ounce Appleton Estate 12 year, and 1 ounce Mount Gay Eclipse Navy Proof)
• 1 ounce pineapple juice
• 1 ounce cream of coconut 
• 0.75 ounces falernum
• 0.75 ounces passion fruit syrup
• 0.75 ounces lime juice
• 1 dash Angostura bitters 

Composition

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and either stir vigorously or shake without ice to ensure the cream of coconut is well incorporated. Pour into an ice-filled pilsner or highball glass. 

 

Commentary

Lightning struck one idle afternoon when I found myself with an opened can of Coco Lopez and a handful of hours to kill before dinner prep. The recipe for Don the Beachcomber's Puka-Puka punch served as inspiration, three ounces of rum, passion fruit syrup, lime, and falernum, all of which seemed compatible with cream of coconut and pineapple juice, so out came the jigger and tins.

 

I omitted Puka's simple syrup, but stuck with the three ounces of rum and equal pours of passion fruit, lime, and falernum. By default, I always pour equal amounts of pineapple juice and cream of coconut, which I bumped to a full ounce because I wanted a dominant coconut flavor. Things were promising after my initial stir and taste, the sweet and sour balance was to my liking, the ethanol oomph of the rum was perfect, but the drink seemed a tad shallow, missing the mythical 'it' factor. Instinctively I reached for a tropical drink stalwart, Angostura Bitters, and sure enough a single dash did the trick, expanding and enhancing the cocktail wonderfully. Tangentially, I must mention my eternal gratitude to the great New Orleans barman Chris McMillian, who in a series of now 18-year old videos that inspired and educated me all those years ago, preached the power of bitters in cocktails. In his Sazerac video, he tells the audience not to fear cocktail bitters, to think of bitters as seasoning for cocktails, like adding salt to a soup to enhance the flavor.

 

As for the selection of rums, after a few rounds of mixing, I have some thoughts: 

• This cocktail benefits by mixing different styles of rum, and at least one of those rums should be a higher-proof offering (though not necessarily a >75% ABV example)
• Funky Jamaican rums stand up well to the bold passion fruit and coconut, everything from Wray & Nephew White Overproof to Hampden Estate or Worthy Park will work well
• One of the rums should be an aged 'traditional' molasses rum, think of offerings from Guyana or Barbados
• If using a rhum agricole, I have found younger rhum agricoles work better than well-aged variants. Personally I would not use anything older than a VO rhum agricole

Now for the elephant in the post, the name. A long-time friend who shares my enthusiasm for food and drink helped inspire the name. Through the years of our gastronomic and imbibing adventures, my friend and I have come up with a seemingly endless repertoire of jokes, innuendos, and cliches centered around bodily functions and anatomy. We have (jokingly?) kicked around the names of cocktails if we were to create a bar menu of our very own, each referencing gaping, explosive, or inflamed orifices, organs, or fluids. As such, I originally named this libation 'Tickle My Sphincter' but felt the more tiki-esque 'Shiver Me Sphincters!' would be more fitting on a menu paying homage to mildly inappropriate swashbuckler adventures on the high seas. Cheers my friends, and keep the sanitary wipes handy.

 

 

Don the Beachcomber's Puka-Puka Punch

Another passion fruit inspiration from Jeff Berry's Potions of the Caribbean. Whereas yesterday's Siboney hailed from Trader Vic, today's offering is from Vic's legendary counterpart and chief competitor: Donn Beach, aka Don the Beachcomber.

 

Ingredients

• 1.5 ounces Pontalba rum (a Louisiana rum that is long extinct; I used a 4-year old rum from Australia which I'd wager tastes nothing like the Louisiana rum, but it does have similar 'exotic' origin vibes) 
• 1.5 ounces rhum agricole vieux
• 0.5 ounces falernum
• 0.5 ounces passion fruit syrup
• 0.5 ounces fresh lime juice
• 0.5 ounces simple syrup 

Composition

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice, and shake vigorously until the shaker is well chilled. Strain into your favorite glassware, stemware preferred. 

Commentary

My immediate thought upon the first few sips of this cocktail was 'too sweet'. I was suspicious that would be the case when the recipe called for equal pours of three fairly sweet ingredients. There are two independent tweaks that could dial this cocktail in to suit my tastes: reduce the sugar or increase the lime. The simplest tweak would be to eliminate the simple syrup all together, tasting the cocktail before shaking and only adding simple syrup if required. As for the lime juice, my gut-feel is that a full ounce would be appropriate, but the safer approach is to start with three-quarters of an ounce, taste, and assess.

 

Despite the initial offering being too sweet, this cocktail has great potential. I particularly like the interplay between a rhum agricole and a molasses based rum combined with a controlled passion fruit influence. Perhaps the greatest aspect however is the cocktail's name. How can you not love a name like Puka-Puka Punch? That name has worm-holed its way into my brain such that I find myself randomly blurting it out as I meander through my day. Cheers my friends, may you find your inner-Puka.

 

Sweet Potential

 

Trader Vic's Siboney

 

Passion fruit syrup. The answer my friends is always anything with passion fruit syrup. If orgeat is the Mickey Mantle of tiki cocktail mixers, then passion fruit syrup must be the Stan Musial. While I do occasionally feel overwhelmed when perusing large collections of tiki cocktail recipes, any recipe listing passion fruit instantly captures my attention and is dog-eared for future reference. From Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean comes today's libation - the Siboney.

 

Ingredients

• 1.0 ounce dark Jamaican rum (0.75 ounces Appleton 12 year and 0.25 ounces Wray & Nephew Overproof for this particular mixing session)
• 0.5 ounces fresh lemon juice
• 0.5 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
• 0.5 ounces passion fruit syrup 

Composition

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, fill with ice, and shake vigorously until the shaker is well chilled. Strain into your favorite glassware, stemware preferred.

 

Commentary

Ahhhh, this is a delicious concoction where the passion fruit syrup is the shining star. While I have complete respect for Appleton's 12 year offering, I feel it needs a boost in two areas: its ethanol punch and the funkiness associated with Jamaican rums. Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum ticks both of those boxes. Other personal favorite Jamaican rum 'boosters' that I use interchangeably are Planteray Xaymaca Special Dry, Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum, and Two James Doctor Bird Jamaica Rum. Any of these 'funky' Jamaican rums can be used to supplant a portion of the Jamaican rum called for in a recipe. I have a few more passion fruit infused posts in the hopper, cheers until then folks.  

 

From Potions of the Caribbean by Jeff Berry

Stay passionate my friends