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tiki

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail

August 29, 2019 by Natalie 195 Comments

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

Summer isn’t over yet! The temperatures are continuing to rise around here. It has been so humid that I am now convinced I live in South Florida because it randomly rains every day now. Even when it’s not in the forecast. Even when the sun is shining. So, what’s a girl to do when it’s too hot and humid to deal? Make a delicious and boozy crushed ice beverage. Very excited to be partnering with my friends over at THE HOUSE OF ANGOSTURA® to bring you a brand new recipe, The Titan Cocktail, to keep you cool until the end of summer.

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

THE HOUSE OF ANGOSTURA, THE HOUSE OF ANGOSTURA, based in Trinidad, has been blending bitters fornearly 200 years and producing fine rums for 130 years, mastering the art of ageing and blending. Using a secret recipe, closely guarded to this day, ANGOSTURA®aromatic bitters is recognized as the world’s first and best-selling cocktail bitters. It is an essential ingredient for contemporary cocktails as well as the classics. With just a few dashes, ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters transforms summery mixed drinks into beloved warm-weather cocktails, from spritzes to tiki inventions, to frozen cocktails and beyond.

 The Titan Cocktail was inspired by one of my favorite tiki classics, The Saturn Cocktail. Most tikidrinks are rum based but what makes the Saturn special is that it is made with gin. This cocktail is rich and sweet just like most tiki concoctions, but the gin gives it the drinkability of a refreshing Tom Collins. I went a step further and, instead of gin, I used mezcal. I named it Titan after Saturn’s largest moon.

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

The Titan

1 1/2 oz. mezcal

1/2 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. orange juice

1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup*

1/4 oz. orgeat*

1/4 oz. falernum

Float of ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters

lime twist and cherry, for garnish

*Passion Fruit Syrup

1 part 100% passion fruit puree, frozen and preferably Goya

1 part rich simple syrup (2:1 demerara sugar  and water)

Make your rich simple syrup ahead of time. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir over heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Let cool. Let frozen passion fruit defrost and then add it to the rich simple syrup. Stir until combined and store in a resealable container.

*Orgeat – You can find my step by step process on how to make orgeat in this post on A Beautiful Mess.

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

To make the Titan cocktail, simply add mezcal, lime juice, orange juice, passionfruit syrup, orgeat and falernum to a cocktail shaker. Dry shake without ice and pour into a highball or swizzle glass. I used these pearl diver mugs from Cocktail Kingdom. Fill the glass with crushed ice and swizzle with a swizzle stick or bar spoon. You can do this by gently twirling the spoon or stick between the palms of your hands until a frost forms on the outside of the glass. Swizzling is a method of dilution the same way as shaking and stirring is, except it is done in a glass with crushed ice.

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

Next, float the ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters on top of the drink and top with more crushed ice. Garnish with a lime twist and a cherry. I like to roll the twist around the cherry and then use a cocktail pick to secure it.

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

Summer Sipping on the Titan Cocktail with ANGOSTURA bitters

I just made a few small tweaks to the Saturn cocktail and made it my own by substituting the gin for mezcal. The mezcal adds a slight smoke and earthiness to an otherwise sweet drink. The addition of the ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters is really what changes everything. ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters counteracts the sharp taste of acidic ingredients and subdues the pronounced flavors of spirits. That’s why it is the perfect ingredient to balance summer cocktails. Although ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters contain some ABV, using just a few dashes can transform your cocktails. So whether you’re sipping on a high-proof or low-abv beverage, ANGOSTURA bitters are the perfect flavor and enhancer and complement to any cocktail. I hope you will be mixing up a few Titans before summer is over. xo

Filed Under: Cocktails, Mezcal, Sponsored, Summer Cocktails, Tiki, Tiki Cocktails Tagged With: angostura bitters, classic cocktails, cocktails, craft cocktails, mezcal, orgeat, passion fruit, sponsored, summer, summer cocktails, tiki

Celebrate Easter Weekend with the Carrot Painkiller

March 30, 2018 by Natalie Leave a Comment

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

If you’re looking for the perfect Easter cocktail then look no further then the Carrot Painkiller. Did you really think I wasn’t going to give you something delicious to sip on this weekend? I’d never let you down and this Carrot Painkiller will surely not disappoint your taste buds.

If you’re not familiar with the classic Painkiller cocktail it is a riff on the Piña Colada. You know how much I love Piña Coladas and given a chance, I will basically turn anything into a Piña Colada. The original Painkiller was created in the 1970s by Daphne Henderson at the Soggy Dollar Bar on the Island of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. It is a blend of rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and coconut. This cocktail is associated with tiki bars and tropical drinks, which as you all know, happen to be my favorite.

If you’re not aware I worked at a tiki bar in NYC called Painkiller (R.I.P). Pusser’s Rum has the Painkiller cocktail trademarked and we wound up having to change our name to PKNY to avoid a lawsuit. So while I love this cocktail, the Painkiller and I have a pretty tumultuous history. PKNY which was located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan shuttered in 2013 over the loss of our lease. A plague that struck a lot of bars in that neighborhood and in almost every neighborhood in NYC still to this day. Let’s just say, almost 5 years later, I still haven’t fully recovered from the closing of that bar.

Maybe that’s why I’m always developing variations on Piña Coladas. Homesick for a place that doesn’t exist anymore. Before I get sad let’s make drinks!

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

Carrot Painkiller, serves 1

2 oz. aged rum (preferably Pusser’s Rum)

1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice

1 oz. fresh carrot juice

1/2 oz. orange juice

3/4 oz. coconut cream

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

First, make your juices. I juiced my pineapple and carrot juice with my Hurom Slow Juicer. I highly recommend owning a slow juicer if you don’t already have one. It has made my life so much easier and healthy. They do not sponsor me (yet, one can dream) so this is 100% my own opinion and recommendation. For the coconut cream I use a 2:1 ratio of coconut cream to coconut milk. After that, this drink is easy peasy to make. Assemble all your ingredients in a cocktail shaker and dry shake. No dilution necessary because when you use crushed ice, dilution happens very quickly and immediately upon adding ice to the glass.

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

Dump your cocktail into your serving vessel. I used these cute clear tiki mugs from CB2 (now sold out). Then add crushed ice to your glass and garnish with a healthy dusting of nutmeg and a pineapple leaf or two.

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

Does anyone else adore making coconut themed things for Easter? I’m going to make this tart on Sunday for dessert. Coconut is one of my favorite ingredients to incorporate into this holiday. Also, I love carrots and so does the Easter bunny! I’m just so lucky that both of these ingredients are delicious together. If you’re looking for some other ideas, I also made this Carrot Orange Mimosa last year and shared some other Easter ideas. If you gave up drinking for lent, well then you’re crazy, but these will be such a treat to make and enjoy! Happy Easter everyone! xo

An Easter Treat - The Carrot Painkiller

Filed Under: Classic Cocktails, Cocktails, Rum, Spring Cocktails, Sweet, Tiki, Tiki Cocktails Tagged With: carrot, classic cocktails, cocktails, coconut, craft cocktails, easter, easter sunday, orange, pineapple, rum, spring cocktails, tiki

Pineapple Champagne Punch

December 29, 2017 by Natalie 3 Comments

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Greetings everyone and happy almost New Year! I hope you have some fun plans to ring in the New Year, but if not don’t fret. New Year’s Eve is one of those holidays that’s always filled with unrealistic expectations. I have spent most working behind the bar but this year I’m staying home for a low key evening with a few friends. If you’re entertaining, I made this Pineapple Champagne Punch that’s simple to throw together. What better way to ring in the New Year than with all my favorite ingredients mixed together in one giant bowl! Don’t forget the disco balls!

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Pineapple Champagne Punch, serves 8-10

4 oz. Jamaican Rum

4 oz. Cognac

3 oz. pineapple juice

3 oz. lime juice

4 oz. allspice simple syrup

1-2 bottles sparkling wine

Pineapple Champagne Punch

The allspice syrup is super easy to make. Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of ground allspice. Heat on the stove and stir until all sugar has dissolved. Let simmer for 10 minutes to cook in the allspice. Remove from heat and let steep for another 10 minutes. Use a fine strainer and a double layer of cheesecloth to strain out the allspice. You can store the syrup in a jar or bottle. This will keep for up to one month refrigerated. If you have allspice liqueur on hand you can add a 1/2 oz. of that to the syrup as well. It will add more flavor and keep it fresh longer.

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Pineapple Champagne Punch

To make your Pineapple Champagne Punch add all your ingredients to your punch bowl, pouring the sparkling wine last.Easy peasy. I made this batch with one bottle of sparkling wine. My suggestion for a boozier punch is to use two bottles. It will also help dry the punch out a tad because it’s on the sweeter side.

Pineapple Champagne Punch

I made a large format ice cube by using a bundt cake mold. Freeze pineapple wheels, a little pineapple juice, and water in your mold. This keeps your punch cold longer and doesn’t over dilute it.

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Pineapple Champagne Punch

Pineapple Champagne Punch

This Pineapple Champagne Punch was so delicious! I can’t wait to make it again for New Year’s Eve. Even though I made a special syrup for the punch it was still fairly simple to put together. You can make the syrup days ahead of time to make assembly even easier. The allspice added tons of flavor and complemented the rum, cognac, and pineapple perfectly. Allspice and pineapple are a common pairing in a lot of classic tiki drinks and that’s where I got the idea for this Pineapple Champagne Punch.

Stay tuned for more New Year’s Eve ideas this weekend. 2018 I’m so ready for you! xo

Filed Under: Champagne Cocktails, Cognac, Entertaining, Fizzy, Holiday Cocktails, Rum, Sweet, Tiki Tagged With: allspice, champagne, cocktails, Cognac, craft cocktails, easy entertaining, holiday cocktails, home entertaining, new years, new years eve, pineapple, rum, tiki

Sunday Kind of Love

August 13, 2017 by Natalie 2 Comments

Happy Sunday! I hope these blooms brighten up your day. I did some flower arranging yesterday for a collaboration I’m doing with Bloomia, so stay tuned. Making bouquets is much harder than you think. Florists have earned so much more of my respect!

What a crazy week it has been and today I am most definitely giving myself a much deserved day off. I’ve been working a lot lately and honestly, I’ve been pretty stressed and spread a little thin. Between regular bar work, a consulting project, keeping up with the blog and social clients, my plate is very full at the moment. There is never a dull moment and who wants to be bored anyways? How do you guys unwind/relax? Do you have good tips on combating burn out? Send them my way! One day I will have this whole life/work balance thing figured out.

  • I’m sure you’ve seen by now that Arsenic Lace has been nominated for Best Drinks Blog by SAVEUR Magazine for their Blog Awards. You have until September 6th to vote as many times as you want so I’m going to be reminding you A LOT to place your votes. I’m up against a lot of really great talent, some I’m happy to call friends, so no matter what happens I’m honored to be a finalist. Head here to place your vote.

  • Wide Open Eats featured me and 15 of my drinks on their lifestyle section and said my Instagram is the happiest thing they’ve seen! “The Florida-meets-Palm-Springs flair of Arsenic Lace’s cocktails will inspire you to imbibe beachside or build a backyard tiki bar yourself.” I stumbled upon this while searching for another article I was featured in and it was quite a happy find! It feels nice to know that others find joy in the content I’m putting out there. This is exactly why I started doing this in the first place. Check it out here.

  • Did you see my delicious Mango Mai Tai go up on A Beautiful Mess this week? There’s an orgeat how-to as well which is a crucial syrup for making tiki drinks at home. Go read fun facts about the history of the Mai Tai and maybe try to make my summertime version for yourself! Recipe here.

  • Yesterday my Hibiscus Frosé was on Palm Springs Style. I’m so happy with the way this recipe turned out. I’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to make frosé at home that didn’t require freezing it in a sheet pan or adding ice to blend and I finally figured it out. The hibiscus syrup really took this drink to the next level by adding floral, tart, fruity notes that complimented the wine – plus the color is stunning!

That’s all for this Sunday. Hope you’re all relaxing with something frosty and boozy in hand. Did you make anything tasty this weekend? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers everyone. xo

Filed Under: Sunday Love Tagged With: a beautiful mess, cocktails, flowers, frosé, mai tai, palm springs style, recipes, SAVEUR Blog Awards, sunday, sunday love, tiki, wide open eats

Lemongrass Pina Colada with Bai

July 10, 2017 by Natalie 4 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog over the past year, you know my favorite cocktail is a piña colada. That’s why I’m excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with Bai for National Piña Colada Day to bring you something delicious with their Molokai Coconut flavor. It turns out Bai is just as crazy about coconut as me!

What’s the great part about using their Cocofusion flavors in your drinks? They are super low in calories and sugar (only 5 calories & 1 gram of sugar per serving) and are filled with antioxidant goodness. We’re basically using this to add coconut flavor but taking out the guilt, which is A-OK with me! Any objections? I’ve paired this wonderful fruit juice with homemade lemongrass syrup, pineapple, and rum to bring you a fun and interesting variation on the much loved classic, the piña colada.


Lemongrass Pina Colada

1 1/2 oz. white rum

1 1/2 oz. Bai Molokai Coconut (any of their other cocofusions will work too)

3/4 oz. pineapple juice

3/4 oz. lemongrass syrup

For the lemongrass syrup, first remove the leaves on your lemongrass until you’re left with the white core (about 5 stalks). Chop it up and add it to a pot with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.

Bring to a slight bubble and then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Let cool on stove for a few hours and then strain out lemongrass.

Now to make the cocktail! Add all your ingredients to your blender pitcher, add ice, and blend on smoothie setting. It’s that easy! Pour into your serving vessel and garnish with a pineapple wedge, pineapple leaves, and a piece of cooked lemongrass.

I love how all the flavors compliment each other perfectly. The replacement of coconut cream for the Bai Molokai Coconut, makes the drink less creamy but doesn’t sacrifice flavor. The lemongrass is sweet and fragrant and blends together with the coconut to make a very crisp and refreshing drink. We couldn’t celebrate National Piña Colada Day without a giveaway, so head over to my Instagram for a chance to win 2 cases of Bai. All you have to do in order to be entered to win is make sure you’re following me @arseniclace, @drinkbai, and tag a friend in the comments you want to share a piña colada with! I will reach out to the winner on Instagram on 7/15. Cheers, good luck and thank you for reading this sponsored post here on Arsenic Lace.

Filed Under: Classic Cocktails, Cocktails, Giveaway, Rum, Sponsored, Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: bai, coconut, giveaway, National Pina Colada Day, Pina Colada, pineapple, recipes, rum, sponsored, summer cocktails, tiki

Frozen Coconut Guava Daiquiri

May 19, 2017 by Natalie 2 Comments

Guys, it’s been SO hot here in NYC! I think the temperature is dropping to something a little more reasonable tomorrow but the past two days have been brutal with it being over 90 degrees. I wasn’t prepared for summer weather so soon. That’s why I needed something cold, especially because we dont have AC in our house yet. I saw Mexican guavas at my local fruit market and decided to make a delicious daiquiri variation.

I love Mexican guavas because they’re easier to work with, small, sweet and perfect for cocktails. You don’t have to remove the skin, although try to remove as much of the seeds as possible because they will change the texture of your drink.

Frozen Coconut Guava Daiquiri, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. Dark Rum

1 oz. Lime Juice

3/4 oz. Coconut Milk

1/2 oz. Simple Syrup

2 small guavas

Frozen Coconut Guava Daiquiri

Add all your ingredients to your blender pitcher, add ice, and blend on smoothie setting. Pour into your desired serving vessel and garnish with a guava slice.

Frozen Coconut Guava Daiquiri

Frozen Coconut Guava Daiquiri

Happy weekend everyone! I’m totally in love with how these came out. I’ve actually never worked with fresh guava before, only the puree kind, and I’m so happy I decided to make a cocktail with them. They made this drink extra delicious and added a lot of fruitiness and some slight tartness to an already super refreshing cocktail. These definitely did the trick and cooled me down on this hot and sweaty afternoon. I hope you decide to make these at home and if you do, don’t forget to drop me a line below in the comments!

Filed Under: Cocktails, Frozen, Rum, Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: classic cocktails, coconut, daiquiri, guava, tiki

Flying Down to Rio

August 24, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

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I developed the Flying Down to Rio cocktail for the Summer menu at Archer Bar, the beverage program I have been running in my neighborhood of Downtown Jersey City, NJ. It’s a variation on a Pina Colada or a Painkiller cocktail, which are both fruity and tropical, perfect for the hot weather. It’s made with Avua Cachaca Amburana which has been matured for at least twenty four months in casks made from amburana, an indigenous wood found only in the forests of Latin America. The resulting spirit offers warm, savory notes of allspice, cinnamon, vanilla and Thai basil, backed by earthy sugarcane, with a hint of toasted almond on the finish.

This drink has defintely been the hit of the summer being one of the top sellers and also garnered a lot of attention over the past few months, (I even made it on a facebook live segment for Refinery29). I was on Avua’s Team USA, representing some of the best bartenders on the U.S. cocktail landscape during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Our job was to try to inspire Americans to drink better, upgrade their cocktail game and embrace Brazils national spirit, and the only cachaca brand from Rio de Janeiro available in the US – Avua Cachaca.

I wanted to pay homage to where the cachaca was from regionally when naming the drink but also keep it playful and fun. I have always been a classic movie fan and what says “escape to paradise” more than a musical with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in it? This drink makes me want to dance the night away! The most important thing about tiki drinks to me is the experience, I want to feel transported, this drink will surely do it. Make 2. The gold leaf flamingo glasses from Love & Victory don’t hurt either. Aren’t they darling? This was the perfect drink to serve in them!

Flying Down to Rio

1 1/2 oz. Avua Cachaca Amburana
1/2 oz. Giffard Banana Liqueur
3/4 oz. Coconut Cream
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz. Orange Juice

Add all ingredients to tin, dry shake, and pour into desired serving vessel, top with crushed ice, and garnish with grated nutmeg, and pineapple leaves. Throw a parasol on there if you have one too!

Check out the Flying Down to Rio’s mention in USA TODAY and on Liquor.com.

Filed Under: Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: Cachaca, craft cocktails, Love & Victory, summer cocktails, tiki

Frozen Passionfruit Daiquiri

August 16, 2016 by Natalie 2 Comments

Happy National Rum Day everyone! Rum is my favorite spirit category because it is incredibly diverse, both in terms of geography and style. It can be made with relative ease all over the world, which is why Rum styles vary from country to country. It can be unaged and mixable, to oak-matured and suitable for sipping or for high-end cocktails. Rum is made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses, or from fresh pressed sugarcane juice, then it is fermented and distilled. In celebration of this holiday I have developed a drink with two of my favorite Rums to mix with, Plantation White Rum and Appleton Estate Reserve Jamaican Rum.

Plantation “3 Stars” Silver Rum is a blend of unaged rum from Barbados and Jamaica, with a three year old rum from Trinidad and a twelve year old rum from Jamaica. The blend is then carbon filtered to maintain its clarity and remove the heavier tannins, while preserving the elegant aromatics and complex flavors developed and refined by aging. The nose has a delicate floral aroma which leads to bright notes of tropical fruit, citrus peel, brown sugar and banana. Flavors of ripe fruit, spice, pepper and fresh herbs appear on the palate and merge with notes of ginger and vanilla on the finish.

Appleton Estate Reserve is the brainchild of Master Blender Joy Spence. The Reserve is a blend of 20 different rums of varying ages, with the youngest rums being 8 years old. Joy crafted the rum to be the ideal transitional rum for the drinker to go from mixing rums to sipping rums. I have been lucky enough to meet and blend Rum with Joy when I took a trip to the distillery back in 2011 after winning the Appleton Estate Rum Remixology Competition.

These two Rums both compliment eachother greatly and work well together in a daiquiri variation. I paired them with lime, passionfruit, honey syrup and Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters (adding flavors of cinnamon and allspice for a hint of tiki). I also made this one frozen with my Blendtec because it’s HOT here in NYC! I find adding a bit more sugar in frozen cocktails really help to balance flavor because of the high dilution rate. After working in a tiki bar blenders become your friend, you just have to understand what water does to drinks and how to properly adjust your proportions.

People also ask me all the time what blender I prefer and after doing side by side testing I can say with 100% certainty that Blendtec is the best blender on the market. It really can do anything (soups, ice cream, smoothies, juice) but the consistency of drinks is what really won me over. Blendtec blades spin at 300 mph virtually pulvarizing anything. No chunks of ice floating in my drinks! Of course when I bought mine it only came in black and red, now they have a baby blue one. Poll: Should I buy a new one?

Frozen Passionfruit Daiquiri

1 oz. Plantation White Rum
1 oz. Appleton Estate Jamaican Rum
3/4 oz. Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Honey Syrup
1/2 oz. Passionfruit Syrup (equal parts passionfruit puree & cane sugar)
2-3 dashes Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a blender pitcher, add ice, and blend on smoothie setting. Serve in preferred glass, I used coupes, but a hurricane, highball, or tiki mug work as well. Garnish with a lime wheel and orchid flower.

Filed Under: Cocktails, Rum, Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: cocktails, craft cocktails, National Rum Day, recipes, rum, summer cocktails, tiki

Summer Sandia Cocktail

July 8, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

This Sunday is National Pina Colada Day, and what better way to celebrate with some Rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream.

It has been the official drink of Puerto Rico since 1978 but its origins are much older. The modern Pina Colada depends on coconut cream being used as an ingredient, which doesnt appear until 1948 when Don Ramon Lopez Irizarry creates the well-known Coco Lopez product. This is where, like most cocktails, the trail gets a little bit muddy. The Pina Colada has had its share of claimants and accounts of similar drinks that date back to the 17th century.

The first actual written instance of Pina Colada attached to a cocktail dates back to 1922 in Travel Magazine. It descibes a drink with fresh pineapple juice, lime, sugar, ice, and Bacardi Rum. This is what we now like to call a Pineapple Daiquiri, which I enjoy on my shifts at Dutch Kills quite frequently.

A few bartenders have quarreled over the rights to the drink:

  • The Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where long-serving bartender, Ramón “Monchito” Marrero Perez claims to have created the drink on August 16, 1954, utilizing the recently released Coco López cream of coconut.
  • Ricardo García, another bartender at the Caribe, who claims to have come up with the recipe as a work-around during the coconut cutters’ union strike of 1954. It sucks when a co-worker trys to take credit for your drink, doesnt it?
  • Ramón Portas Mingot’s 1963 story stating that he came up with the drink while working at the Barrachina Restaurant in Old San Juan.

I want to thank all of them, as we may never know, just like the Mai Tai battle of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic (I vote for Don). Let’s celebrate the history of this drink in all of its frosty, fruity, deliciousness glory with a variation of our own. I’m celebraing with my cocktail the Summer Sandia which I created for Women & Whiskies. I know what you’re thinking, a whiskey colada? I’m here to change your mind with this American Whiskey spin on the classic Pina Colada.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

Summer Sandia

1 ½ oz. Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
½ oz. Absinthe
1 ½ oz. Pineapple Juice
1 ½ oz. Coconut Cream (equal parts coconut cream and coconut milk)
7 watermelon cubes
Fresh Mint
Crushed Ice

Add pineapple juice to your mixing tin with 5 watermelon cubes and a handful of mint leaves, and muddle. Add the rest of your ingredients, dry shake, and strain into your serving vessel. Add crushed ice and garnish with watermelon and a mint sprig.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

All photos courtesy of Mady Popelka for Women & Whiskies. Glassware by Easy Tiger Co.

Filed Under: Cocktails, Summer Cocktails, Tiki, Whiskey Tagged With: cocktails, craft cocktails, National Pina Colada Day, Pina Colada, recipes, summer, summer cocktails, Summer Sandia Cocktail, tiki, watermelon, Whiskey, Wild Turkey, Women & Whiskies

Using Matcha in Cocktails and the Magnificent Seven

June 29, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

This week I played around with using Matcha in a cocktail. It is a type of powdered green tea that is produced primarily in Japan from specially grown and ground shaded tea leaves. It can be used to make an antixoidant rich green tea, or in recipes for smoothies, I love to bake with it, and it is an interesting ingredient to use in cocktails.

There are a lot of plus sides to working with Matcha health wise.

  • It creates energy, plus is calming thanks to amino acids.
  • It is a powerhouse of antioxidants.
  • Aids in weight loss.
  • Helps increase focus and concentration.
  • Supports skin health by reducing inflammation and free radicals that accelerate skin aging.

While this is all great and awesome I have to be honest, I thought it would just be delicious in drink form. From here I thought about all other ingredients that would pair well with it. Cocktail creation for me is kind of like baking, you figure out your flavor profile and what ingredients you would like to be working with and then you adhere to a recipe as your format for building.

One of my favorite drinks of all time is the Pina Colada, because Pina Coladas, am I right? I used this as a template and inspiration for my cocktail. You can get as creative as you want when you are inventing a new drink but referencing classics and understanding proportions and ratios is key. I decided to name my drink The Magnnificent Seven. The title is from a country western movie made in 1960 that is based off a Japanese film called The Seven Samurai. There also happens to be 7 ingredients in this drink. Lucky me!

The Magnificent Seven

1 1/2 oz. Aged Rum (I used El Dorado 5 year)
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
3/4 oz. Coconut Cream (2:1 Coconut Milk & Coconut Cream)
3/8 Orgeat (almond milk syrup)
3/8 Cacao (Tempus Fugit makes a lovely dark Creme de Cacao)
1/2 tsp Matcha Green Tea Powder

Add all your ingrdients to a blender pitcher, add ice and blend. Pour into a large glass like a highball, hurricane, or tiki mug. Garnish with a slice of pineapple, pineapple leaves, and always a parasol.

Filed Under: Cocktails, Rum, Summer Cocktails, Tiki Tagged With: craft cocktails, el dorado rum, matcha, recipes, rum, summer cocktails, tempus fugit, tiki

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My name is Natalie Jacob and I'm a bartender, author and beverage + creative consultant drinking, honky tonkin and making a home in Nashville, TN. Learn more ->

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