by Evan Stoner and Danielle Logan
Well, we made it, for some definition of “made it.” For eight months now we’ve been trying cocktails and mostly isolating ourselves from the world. The fact that you’re reading this means you’re still here, after enduring one of the great global traumas of the last century. Perhaps a couple of the great global traumas, depending on your political leaning.
Perhaps you have contracted this dread disease and come through. Perhaps you are fully vaccinated, or partly vaccinated, or waiting for your first dose. Whichever of these describes you, you are hopefully seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light gets visibly closer every day.
Friend, I am glad you are still here.
In fact, I am so pleased by this that I would like to offer a toast, and we had better have something to toast with.
The summer of our post-discontent approaches and, as things get warmer, my thoughts turn to rum. Longtime readers will note that my thoughts also turned to rum in March. Look, that there was aspiration. This here is the real thing.
Let’s start with the arguable queen of all rum drinks: the daiquiri.
The daiquiri is one of those drinks that has developed a bad reputation through no fault of its own. Over the years, many people and many chain restaurants have made entirely different, entirely terrible drinks, loaded them up with all kinds of garbage, served them in ridiculous colors like a Slurpee, and then called them “daiquiris”, thus sullying a noble brand. Furthermore, it was originally made with Bacardi, but Bacardi today is nothing like Bacardi was in 1897.
It’s also important to note that many legitimate bartenders today blend their daiquiris, but in the oldest recipes they were served neat, so that’s what we’re going to do here.
Daiquiri
2 oz white aged and filtered rum (see notes)
2 tsp white sugar
1 oz fresh lime juice
Dissolve the sugar in the lime juice. Add rum.
Shake with ice and double-strain into a cocktail glass.
Notes:
- The key to this whole drink is getting the sweet/sour balance just how you like it. Experiment with decreasing or increasing the sugar until it’s dialed in to your palate.
- The rum should be aged and then filtered to remove the color, in the style of classic Cuban rums. Havana Club 3-year is probably the best rum to use for this; however, it’s made in Cuba, and you are not likely to find it in your local store because of History. You may see something called Havana Club on the shelf, but it is probably a Puerto Rican rum that uses the same name and is not the same thing at all.
- If you don’t frequently go to Cuba, or to other countries that don’t have a perpetual embargo on delicious rums, you will have better luck finding Caña Brava, Barbancourt White, Angostura, Brugal Blanco Supremo, Don Q Cristal, or El Dorado 3. All of these should work pretty well.
- These rums are a little further away from the canonical profile, as they’re blended from multiple countries, but also make a good drink: Plantation 3 Stars, Denizen Aged White, Banks 5 Island.
- Superfine sugar (baker’s sugar, not powdered sugar) will dissolve faster if you find that a fiddly process.
- You can also substitute demerara sugar for half of the sugar to get a bit more of a distinct flavor.
This is a very simple drink, but it can be surprisingly tricky to master. Cocktail nerds will often order these as a litmus test for a rum-focused bar. On a personal note, several years ago I was visiting NYC and, after a long day of walking all over Brooklyn and Manhattan, we sat down at the bar at Blacktail and I ordered a daiquiri.
That drink was maybe the best thing I have ever tasted. It was velvety and perfect and I made some kind of involuntary incoherent noise, which made the bartender laugh.
Blacktail is closed permanently, one of many bars that were floored by the pandemic. Enjoy the things you can in life while you have them, because you never know what might vanish.
ANYWAY, that got a little maudlin, so let’s make another, more complicated drink, because it’s always a good idea to have a second one when you’re feeling maudlin.
Apricole Swizzle
(Invented by Matt Pietrek)
2 oz high proof unaged rhum agricole (100 proof or higher)
1/2 oz apricot liqueur
1/2 oz orgeat
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
Build in chilled Collins glass, or a tall tiki mug. Fill 2/3 with crushed ice. Swizzle with a bar spoon, swizzle stick, or bois-lélé.
Top with crushed ice and douse the surface with 6-10 dashes of Angostura bitters to make a festive red float. Garnish with orchids, pineapple fronds, or cocktail sticks from bars that you miss.
Notes:
- High proof rhums are ideal here, but if you’ve only got 80 proof, don’t let that stop you from making this delicious drink.
- Good brands to consider include Rhum JM, Clement, and Neisson.
- Unaged rhums are also ideal here, but if all you’ve got is aged, don’t let that stop you either.
- To “swizzle” means to hold your swizzling implement between your palms and rub them back and forth like you’re trying to start a fire. This motion will cause the ice to move back and forth in the glass and, if the glass is thin enough and you do it right, a thick layer of frost will form on the outside.
This drink is not only delicious, it’s a rare example of a fairly straightforward tiki drink to make at home. The ingredients are on the slightly obscure side for some folks, but there aren’t that many of them, and you don’t have to blend three rums or make some kind of complicated and perishable syrup. I highly recommend it.
We’ll do one more super-easy, low-proof cocktail for those who are reducing their alcohol intake or just want something easy and sessionable for the summer.
Pimm’s Cup
Pimm’s No. 1 Cup liqueur
Some kind of tart, fizzy lemonade (or ginger ale)
Fill a Collins glass with ice cubes. Add Pimm’s until glass is 1/3 full. Top with lemonade and stir gently to combine. Optionally, garnish with a cucumber or lemon slice.
Notes:
- This one is nice when you don’t feel like measuring or remembering anything; it’s pretty forgiving.
- Pellegrino Limonata works really well in this.
And now, here’s Danielle with a couple of delicious mocktail reinterpretations and a muffin recipe to boot!
While the apricole swizzle has a far more adult taste to it, the problem with Evan’s cocktail is that it made me crave almond-apricot pastries. It’s all I’ve been able to think about for a week. Realizing that I was not going to be able to craft a good mocktail while I dreamt of sugar, I gave in this morning and made some lovely delicate muffins with just the right hint of sweet. With that, I could start mocktailing. We have two options for you, a light sweet-tart of a mocktail and a creamy concoction you’d want to sip on your next pirate cruise.
Apricot Dream
1 1/2 oz pineapple juice
1 1/2 oz coconut milk
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz apricot or peach baby food (yep, that’s right)
1 tsp almond-flavored syrup
3-4 ice cubes
Dash of ground nutmeg
Sprig of mint
Add pineapple juice, coconut milk, lime juice, baby food, and syrup to a blender along with 3-4 ice cubes. Process until smooth. Transfer to a glass and dust with nutmeg. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
Apricot Swizzle
1/2 oz almond-flavored syrup
1/2 oz apricot preserves
1/2 oz lemon juice
Fill cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add almond syrup, preserves, and lemon juice. Stir for 30 seconds and strain into a glass. Garnish with a dash of Angostura Bitters and a mint sprig (optional).
Note: If your preserves aren’t runny enough, you might need to blend the drink or you’ll have slightly unappetizing chunks in the final product. You can also substitute peach or apricot baby food, but then should reduce the lemon juice to 1/4 oz.
Brendan’s reaction to the Apricot Dream, “That’s a really nice drink. I would totally have that in the summer.”
Siobhan’s reaction, “Wow, that’s tasty. Like a lighter piña colada. I really like the nutmeg, too.”
Siobhan’s reaction to the Swizzle: “I’ve never had a drink that smells so much like a Sweet Tart. You know, helping you has been a bit like playing Russian roulette. I mean, without the death. But still some of your drinks were really terrible. I’m glad you ended on a high note.”
Brendan, unfortunately, did not get to taste the Swizzle as my daughter tossed back the entire glass. He did, however, get a muffin. And for those of you who might also be craving some pastries:
Almond Apricot Muffins
Yields 6
1/4 cup almond flour
3.4 oz all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 oz almond paste
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1 Tbsp sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup 2% milk
2 Tbsp apricot pastry filling
Preheat oven to 350°. Place 6 muffin cup liners in muffin cups.
Sprinkle almond flour on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 6 minutes or until beginning to brown and become fragrant, stirring after 3 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
Increase oven temperature to 425°. Combine flours and next 3 ingredients in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Crumble almond paste into a medium bowl; add sugar. Beat at medium-low speed until mixture becomes sandy, about 3 minutes. Add butter, sour cream, and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes or until well combined. Add egg, beating well.
Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filing 1/3 full. Top each with about 1 teaspoon apricot pastry filling; top with remaining batter. Bake at 425° for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375° and bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.
There you are, friends, we’re done. We’ve done a couple dozen drinks over this remote reunion season. Hopefully you’ve discovered some new recipe that you liked or some tidbit of liquid history that you didn’t know.
And hopefully, in about a year, we’ll all be toasting in person.
Until then, we remain your drinking buddies,
Evan and Danielle