*and I truly mean We - check out Boomer's first official attributed post!
For those not in-the-know, one of the best internet cocktail parties of the year is always Tiki Month, hosted by Doug at The Pegu Blog each February. Doug explains the origins in the first link better than this Jane-come-lately can. But, quite simply, Tiki is the advanced thermonuclear global timeshare, the Indiana Jones adventure of cocktails. The wistful sunsoaked beaches and hula skirts of Tiki were meant for the dreary, snowy winter months (that were yet chock-a-block with fresh winter citrus!). While some crazy spirits saddle up with NOLA cocktails like the Vieux Carre or Sazerac for Mardi Gras, others party the whole month with Jet Pilots, Mai Tais and Missionary's Downfalls. So while you may be doing Orpheus-knows-what with beads and the Krewe de Muses tomorrow, join the party and make yours Tiki!
Now then, way back when I promised all of you a second cocktail using my ethereal Meyer lemon falernum. My first, the Telesto (with falernum recipe ready and available for cri-Tiking), was an odd gin-rum-arrack riff on the Saturn style of low-proof blended recipes with orgeat. This time around, we're expanding the spirit range and attempting a tequila-based recipe using a tequila blend. Granted, tequila doesn't quite have the range that rum does, with all the variation in and around the Caribbean alone, but there are still altitude- and aging-based nuances available to play with.
The sinking sun glimmers gold and pink on the placid surf, her shell drifting towards shore....had she always been there, coasting the waves? The sailor watched in trepidation, the foam drip drip dripping from her locks. Her long fingers reached back and wrung kinks into the flax. The land was not her natural state.
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| Why yes, this is a Tiki cocktail in a clamshell birdbath. Why do you ask? #garnish |
Anadyomene's Waves
3/4 oz blanco tequila
3/4 oz reposado tequila
1 oz Don's Mix #2
1/2 oz Meyer lemon falernum
1/2 oz lime juice
6 drops Bittercube Jamaican #2 bitters
Shake with crushed ice and strain over over larger cubes.
Garnish with untold waves of citrus zest (Meyer lemon, lime, grapefruit).
Garnish with untold waves of citrus zest (Meyer lemon, lime, grapefruit).
If using falernum without Meyer lemon juice added in, add 1/4 oz ML juice to the mix. As when working with all citrus, check the tartness, especially with the grapefruit, and adjust accordingly.
Go big with flavor here - you won't regret it. You want tequila with hogo, if you can find it. Get a big grassy, peppery blanco (i.e. Siembra Azul) and a rich, earthy funky lowlands reposado (i.e. Corralejo). Bottles bold in tequila flavor (and perhaps less sweetness) win in this cocktail.
Proboscis: candied pink butterflies made of crystalline sunbeams. Meyer lemon, pink peppercorn, ginger, grapefruit, faint grassy agave.
Tastebuds: a burst of sweet pink spice on the tongue dries to tartness over the palate. Agave emerges sip after sip. Even as it dilutes, you find more layers revealed. Pink lemonade, weak cinnamon, shimmer of dark spices cooking underneath.
That thing with the name? Let just say an ice strategy of crushed ice pressed into the form of a scallop shell in the glass would not go amiss. It came to me while breathing in my seaweed/sea air shampoo a year and a half after getting the recipe down. Darn Venus combust sneaking out through the art - and here I thought I was a tomboy..
Seriously, though, if you look at the structure, there are far more variants out there than you can swing a drunken Kermit at. The Golden-Eyed Tree Frog for one. So glad I didn't name this one after a Bajan lizard.
