For this month’s Mixology Monday, Rick over at Kaiser Penguin has chosen the theme Limit One as a nod to those classic tiki drinks that came with such a warning label attached. Of course, this had less to do with the patron’s concern for the customer’s well-being and more to do with marketing and generating what today we would call “buzz”. I believe the first drink to bear this warning was Don the Beachcomber’s Zombie, but many followed in this vein, normally mixing enormous quantities of different rums together to make drinks that would leave you hung-over if you happened to glance in their direction.

I didn’t want to do a tiki drink, because I reckon that about 80% of this month’s entries will be tiki, so I’m going to talk about the Papa Doble, even though I actually already covered it way back in June last year. If you read that post you’ll notice that I highlight a discrepancy with that recipe, because it contains the same amount of rum as a regular Daiquiri, yet the drink supposedly owes part of its name to being a double.

This Drinkboy forum thread has a convincing explanation in the form of a different recipe to the one I originally posted, this one from a book called Papa Hemingway - A Personal Memoir by A.E. Hotchner. Actually, I recommend you read the Amazon extract of that book to get a little vignette both of Hemingway and also of Havana back in the good old days.

Back to the recipe, this new one comes in at a sturdy 4 ounces (well, 3 3/4, but I rounded up) of rum, which is about twice as much as a normal Daiquiri takes, and also twice as much lime juice, so it now passes the “double” test. As well as much more grapefruit juice, another variation is that this drink is blended, whereas I mixed up the first version in a shaker.

So how does it measure up? Well, it’s not that different from just making two of my first recipe, but somehow it’s missing something. I’m going to notch it up to the fact that it’s still winter, and you really need to be in the searing heat to fully enjoy this ice-cold wonder…

Recipe:

4 oz. White Rum
2 oz. Lime juice
1 oz. Grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur

Blend with 3/4 cup of crushed ice and serve in a large goblet.

Notes:

Very cold, sour and bitter. A killer combination in the summer, but maybe overkill in March.

Rating:

- Make the smaller version, at least that way you can have twice as many…

Head on over to Kaiser Penguin to see the rest of this Monday’s entries.

I’m on a bit of a Beachbum Berry run here, since acquiring a batch of his books. You’ll have to forgive me, and rest assured I will stop before I get to plagiarism.

Today I bring the Fog Cutter, another Tiki standard from Victor ‘Trader Vic‘ Bergeron. In his Grog Log, the Bum quotes Trader Vic as saying: “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these you won’t even see the stuff,” and there’s no doubt that it’s a potent mix. Two ounces of rum in a cocktail can already be considered a generous serving. If on top of that you add another ounce and a half of hooch, you get something pretty explosive. And I haven’t counted the float yet.

There were a few reasons for trying this one out. Firstly, it’s a classic in its realm. Also I had all the ingredients, which is pretty rare for most of the Bum’s recipes. Well, with one exception, but I’ll get to that. This includes my latest toy, Orgeat syrup.

The rum mentioned in the book is light Puerto Rican rum, which is a euphemism for Bacardi Carta Blanca. I always substitute a decent rum instead of that particular one, and it’s usually Havana Club Añejo 3 Años. The spicy notes add character to any drink, and it’s probably the most historically correct anyway. There is no note in the book of when the drink was created, but the Bacardi that all these Tiki legends used was made in Cuba in the same distillery and using the same recipe as the current Havana Club. Even if the drink wasn’t created prior to the Cuba embargo, I reckon Trader Vic knew exactly what he was aiming for when he used Bacardi, and this was probably it.

My missing ingredient was sweet sherry, since I usually keep some of that around in the winter. The summer in Spain calls for the dry Fino or Manzanilla varieties of Sherry. I had a reasonable substitute, though, in Málaga Virgen, a sweet fortified wine made from Pedro Ximenez grapes. These grapes are used at least in part in most sweet sherries, and although the wine is missing some of the character of being fortified with sherry brandy, it’s pretty similar.

It wasn’t much of a big deal anyway, because I used sherry brandy in the drink, whereas most people would probably use something from France. So all the elements ended up there, even if the components were a little different.

By the way, have you noticed the photo in this post? I figured that it would be a good idea to start doing that with this new design, you know, to spruce things up. If by sprucing up I mean highlighting my failures, of course.

First of all, you may have noticed I’m not exactly Rick from Kaiser Penguin when it comes to taking pictures of drinks. I hope to improve, but until then you’re stuck with my experiments. Second of all, you see that brown sludge at the bottom of the glass? That’s the float. Yeah, I know, let’s pretend it didn’t happen. And third of all, even though I tried to follow Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s instructions to the letter, my orange twist sucks.

But whatever, I’ll give you the recipe and you can try and do better.

Recipe:

2 oz. Lemon juice
1 oz. Orange juice
1/2 oz. Orgeat Syrup
1 oz. light Rum
1 oz. Brandy
1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. sweet Sherry

Shake everything — except sherry — with ice cubes. Pour into tall tiki mug and add more ice cubes to fill. Float sherry on top of drink.

Notes:

The first time I made the Fog Cutter I skipped the float altogether, and only included it the second time for completeness and the photograph. That didn’t work out too well, and I ended up mixing the float with the rest of the drink, which wasn’t too great.

I’m left without knowing what it’s like made exactly right, but I’ll probably be skipping the float the next times I make it. The cocktail is strong enough without it anyway, and the tartness just right.

Rating:

- A good drink, but too strong to enter my regular rotation.

One of the timeless summer classics, the Margarita is a typical example of a decent drink with a bad reputation. When it is well made, with quality ingredients, it is a nice and balanced drink suitable for hot afternoons.

Like many classics, its origin is lost in the mists of time. Robert Hess outlines quite a few of the available stories in the Drinkboy Margarita recipe page. I don’t have enough data to choose any one account as being more likely than the rest, so I won’t bother. However, it’s safe to assume that a 1930’s/40’s origin is likely.

This date can help explain reason why the Margarita became so spectacularly popular, since it coincides both with the beginning of the tiki, and by extension tropical-drink, craze and also with the beginning of the United States’ view of Mexico as a party-place of sorts. The combination of tropical theme and the Mexico angle given by tequila may have pushed this drink over many others to its current status as one of the most well-known cocktails in the world.

But this is all speculation, of course. Maybe part of the appeal is because of people’s view of tequila as an especially nasty spirit, imbuing the Margarita with a certain mystique and aura of danger, and making it intriguing and attractive to many.

Whatever the reason for trying one, many tend to indulge in a few more, due in no small part to the fact that it’s actually not a bad drink. Unfortunately, the morning after ends up being more memorable than the night before.

The components of this potion are as well-known as they are simple — Tequila, lime juice and triple-sec. If you want your drink to be the best it can be, you need to use the best ingredients. To begin with, a 100%-agave tequila, preferably a young tequila with a little bite to it, is essential. The lime juice should be freshly squeezed and not from a bottle. Finally, the triple-sec must be Cointreau, there is no equal.

Finally, the signature of the Margarita is the salt around the rim of the glass. The technique for this is simple. Place some kosher salt in a saucer, run a lime wedge around the edge of the glass and dip the tip of the glass sideways in the saucer until the outside rim is covered in salt. Many places will just put your glass upside down into a plate of salt, but that will result in salt sticking to the inside of the rim as well as the outside. From here it can slide down into your drink making it salty, which is a very undesirable effect.

As to how to combine these ingredients, there are a few accepted ratios. I’ve settled on the 3:2:1 ratio of tequila/Cointreau/lime juice, which Drinkboy also endorses after a suggestion from Gary Regan. Other recipes call for equal parts of all ingredients, or else a 2:1:1 which reduces the sweetness somewhat.

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. Lime juice

Shake everything with ice and strain into a salt-rimmed cocktail glass, or Margarita saucer.

Notes:

Although It’s not a drink I normally consider, it’s status as a classic is indisputable. The taste is really very distinctive and mixing up a few as a party trick will usually get you looks of admiration, especially if you can drink it and not fall over.

Some people recommend making them with Grand Marnier, an orange liqueur with a brandy base, although in those cases the ratios should be modified to accomodate the additional sweetness of the Grand Marnier.

Rating:

- Maybe if I was more of a Tequila connoisseur, I might like it better.

I first saw this drink mentioned on Beachbum Berry’s blog over a month ago, and had been intrigued by it until a few days ago, when I finally got my hands on some allspice and made the requisite syrup. I have to say it is very good. So good, in fact, that it made me ponder the adequacy of my rating system.

You see, a four-star drink has to be like a friend who is always there for you no matter what. That means, apart from tasting great, it has to be easy to make and have ingredients I am likely to have around the house. The rating system is very clear — rare ingredients or difficult methods get you two stars.

The ingredient list is where the Navy Grog falters. It uses something called Grog Mix, which is an allspice syrup you pretty much have to make yourself. The directions are simple, according to the Bum:

Grind enough whole dried allspice berries to make 6 level tablespoons. Place the ground allspice in a saucepan with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Bring it all to a boil, then cover and simmer for two minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat and — keeping it covered — let steep for two to three hours, then strain into a bottle and refrigerate.

No matter how simple-to-make an ingredient is, it remains an added complexity. This is especially true for me because I’m so lazy when it comes to making these things, hell, I don’t even have any simple syrup usually.

The resulting drink, however, is really something. The allspice is very prominent and unlike anything I’d ever tasted before in a glass. It works wonders with the robust rums in the mix, and makes the entire experience very satisfying. I recommend you make yourself one right away, or as soon as you’ve mixed up some Grog Mix.

Recipe:

1 oz. dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz. Demerara Rum
3/4 oz. Lime juice
1/2 oz. Grapefruit juice
3/4 oz. Grog Mix

Shake everything together briskly with plenty of crushed ice and pour into a double old-fashioned glass.

Notes:

Demerara rum is impossible to find here in Spain, so I ended up just substituting it for a completely different rum, to see what the effect was. I used Cruzan gold rum, which is new round these parts, and the result was quite decent.

Rating:

- If I make Grog Mix on a regular basis, it’s no longer a difficult-to-find ingredient, right? Right??

Since Brazil’s national spirit is cachaça, it’s only fitting that their national drink be the Caipirinha, a cocktail where it is the main player.

Recipe:

2 oz. Cachaça
2 tsp Sugar
4 Lime wedges

Cut a lime into 6 wedges. Into a wide-bottomed glass, drop four lime wedges and the sugar and muddle vigorously. When all the juice has been extracted from the wedges, fill the glass with crushed ice and finally pour in the cachaça. Stir everything together and serve with a straw.

Notes:

If you’re looking for a great summer drink, you can’t really go wrong with booze and limes. We’ve seen it while looking at cuban cocktails, and the caipirinha reinforces the idea.

You can try this drink with cubed ice and it will also work well, it depends on how much dilution you’re after.

Oh, and if you’re feeling virile, you can make a real man’s Caipirinha. The site is in portuguese, but I’m sure the pictures will get the point across.

Rating:

- It doesn’t get four stars because I’m unlikely to have cachaça at home on a regular basis.

Ernest Hemingway, a famous drinker who apparently wrote a few books too, was a regular customer at the famous Havana watering hole La Floridita. Here, he enjoyed all the usual perks of a regular - his own place by the bar, a friendly relationship with the owner and head bartender, Constantino Ribalagua, and of course, his regular drink.

Hemingway had three requirements for his perfect drink: It should not be artificially sweetened with sugar or any kind of syrup, it must be ice-cold and it must be strong. It turns out that the famous Daiquiri already being served at La Floridita was pretty close to what he was after.

Removing the sugar killed the balance of the drink, so he added some maraschino liqueur as a sweetening agent, and some grapefruit juice to get the flavour just right. To get the drink cold enough, he insisted on shaking with crushed ice instead of cubed ice, and also had the drink served with ice instead of straining it.

Making the drink stronger was just a case of making it a double. This also indirectly named the drink, since the drink was actually named after Hemingway’s nickname, Papa Doble, a nickname he earned by always ordering doubles.

So that’s the theory, anyway. On to the practice.

Recipe:

2 oz. white cuban Rum
1 oz. Lime juice
1/4 oz. Maraschino Liqueur
1/4 oz. Grapefruit juice

Pour all ingredients over crushed ice in a shaker, and shake the hell out of it. Serve the whole mess into a double rocks glass. I doubt that Hemingway bothered with a garnish, but you can’t go wrong with a lime wheel.

You can also blend everything together in a blender.

Notes:

My first thought after trying the Papa Doble (once I managed to pry my frozen fingers from the shaker) was “this could use some sugar.” My second thought was “wow, this is cold!” After sipping on the rest of the drink, though, I think I quite like it. It is bitter, but still refreshing, in a similar way to Campari.

Alert readers will have noticed that although this is supposed to be a double, the amount of rum is the same as in a regular Daiquiri. I imagine that it should be served as twice what is in the recipe. That would be 4 ounces of rum, etc. If this is not so, and someone knows how this works, feel free to leave a comment enlightening us.
Rating:

- Makes you feel like a suicidal alcoholic in a third-world nation. But in a good way.

Recipe:

1 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Vodka
1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Light Rum
1 1/2 oz. Coconut Cream
1 oz. Grenadine

Mix everything in a blender with crushed ice.

Via: Coco Lopez

Notes:

Ouch. (again.) I found this drink quite by accident, looking for something else. Still, it looked so over-the-top I couldn’t help myself. Actually, it’s not as bad as it looks. The (cheap) tequila gives it a slightly unpleasant edge, but it’s otherwise just another girl-drink (it is intensely pink). Keep this in mind for bachelor-parties and other such events.

The original recipe called for 151 rum, I changed that to regular rum because I figured that might be overkill. Shouldn’t have bothered. Also, I adapted the recipe to one serving.

Rating:

- Has its uses, but I’m too old for them (unfortunately).

Recipe:

1 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 oz. Rum
1 oz. Gin
1.5 oz. Lemon Juice
1 Splash Coca-Cola

Mix ingredients together over ice in a tall glass. Pour into shaker and give ONE brisk shake. Pour back into glass and make sure there is a touch of fizz at the top. Garnish with lemon.

Notes

Ouch. If you make this properly, it should taste very similar to Iced Tea and the alcohol will barely be noticeable. Some recipes I’ve seen also call for Vodka, but it seems like overkill to me - this drink doesn’t need strengthening.

Rating

- For special occasions only, if you’re over 21.