The Descent of Man

"Rum emerges as the cause - and supposed cure - for many illnesses and injuries at sea."

"On the same voyage, a scorpion sting nearly paralysed a sailor. He was revived by 'application of rum to the part'. Another man bitten by a tarantula received some 'rum and oil'."

Fascinating. 

Mixology Monday: Lime in the Coconut

As summer recedes, the last of the tiki drinks and boat drinks are being confected.  Dainty swimming trunks will turn into furry fleece jackets while mojitos will make way for hot toddies. 

When I saw that The Pegu Blog had picked limes as its theme for Mixology Monday I could only think of one drink for my maiden MxMo post.  I opted for simplicity.  However, I risked redundancy of this drink amongst my fellow contributors.  How contemptuous that would be... similar in the way two coworkers mistakenly show up to the office wearing the exact same ensemble. 

But I digress.

The great Gina Chersevani (of PS7s) was my source for this particular recipe - which is delicious.  I ventured the extra mile, heinously chopped open a young coconut and used it as the goblet. 

Lime in the Coconut

- 1 1/2 oz of Bacardi Rum

- 1 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice

- 1 oz of coconut water

- 1/2 oz of ginger syrup

- pinch of cinnamon

- 10 mint leaves

Pour rum, lime juice, coconut water, ginger syrup, cinnamon and 10 whole mint leaves into a glass with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a glass (or a coconut) with crushed ice.  Garnish with a lime wheel and a few sprigs of mint.  For extra aromatics, give the mint a slap or two in your hand to release a little bit of the juices in the leaves. 

Refreshing and tropical, its a delightful concoction that invokes that quaint island lifestyle - even if the everyday reality of that life is hardly so picturesque. 

And now, covering the famed "Lime in the Coconut" tune by Harry Nilsson, dear reader... Kermit the Frog.

For Sh*ts and Giggles: Homemade Falernum

It seems as though nearly all of the mixology heavy weights have descended upon New Orleans, Louisiana (or "NoLa" as the kids are so artfully abbreviating it) for Tales of the Cocktail.  Not me.  I'm here in DC as an observer from afar.

Ah, but opportunity presents itself!  As Camper English, a San Francisco journalist, demonstrates on his blog Alcademics, there will be a significant outage in the communications from the blogger elites.  What a perfect occasion for rendition of their readership. 

Right.

Anyway, making my way through the tribulations of fresh homemade ingredients, I fell upon falernum.  Since the temperature outside is crying havoc its perfectly appropriate to get bamboo straws, little umbrellas and toss together "boat drinks."  And since falernum can be found in a number of such cocktails I took time to build this strange ingredient from scratch.

I sought guidance from RumDood's blog and his journey to make was seems to be a great homemade falernum.  Sooner or later I stumbled upon another promising recipe at Cocktail Chronicles.  I perused several other sites but relied primarily on a constituency of these two approaches. 

Falernum


Stage One:
8 oz of Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum
2 oz fresh shredded ginger
Zest from 8 limes (this is a pain in the trousers)
40 whole cloves
2 anise stars

Stage Two:
14 oz simple syrup (2:1 - cold processed)
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
4 oz fresh lime juice

Necessary tools: a zester, cheesecloth

Stage one: steep the shredded ginger, lime zest, cloves and anise stars in the rum for twenty-four hours.

Stage two (24 hours later): collect the resulting liquid using cheesecloth.  Add simple syrup, lime juice, and almond extract.  Mix the combination and it's ready to serve.

I'll be making Bermuda Rum Swizzles at Tonic today.  If you're hoping to slip global warming for a moment and reinvigorate yourself with a fresh boat drink, step into Tonic and put me and my homemade falernum to the task.