Sunday, April 15, 2018

Those Tropical Cocktails

Naturally when one goes to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, one needs to take advantage of the free drinks and tropical juices.  I've never been so lucky so I'm going prepared.   Not having much experience with bar drinks, I have a lot to learn and the blog Savored Journeys has a post meant for me:  Best Beach Drinks to Order at All-Inclusive Resorts (with Recipes!).  The recipes are in case the bartender has no idea what drink you are talking about.  Why do I need to create a list?  It's because "Making a list is necessary if you want to try a bunch of different drinks, because most resort bars don’t provide drink menus."   You wouldn't want me to go to Punta Cana and limit myself to Cuba Libres, Piña Coladas, Margaritas and Mojitos would you?

Here are my new favorites:

Hurricane
Hurricane:  2 oz dark rum; 2 oz white rum; 2 oz Lime Juice; 3 oz Passion Fruit Juice; 2 oz Pineapple Juice; 1 oz Orange Juice; 1 Tbsp Grenadine.  With all that rum and fruit juice (especially passion fruit), what's not to love?  Except it doesn't have carbonation.  By the way, passion fruit is called chinola in the Dominican Republic and since they have a local name for passion fruit, it must be grown there and we shouldn't have trouble finding it.  Camila said that the chinola juice in Santo Domingo was wonderful.

Caribbean Rum Punch:  This is a weaker hurricane without the passion fruit juice and more orange and pineapple juice, and so the color is more orange than red:  1/2 oz lime juice; 4 oz orange juice; 4 oz pineapple juice; 1 1/2 oz dark rum; 1 1/2 oz light rum; a little grenadine for color.  It's similar to Planter's Punch, I think.

Lava Flow
Lava Flow:  This is like dessert: 1 oz Light Rum; 1 oz Malibu Coconut Rum; 2 oz Strawberries; 2 oz Pineapple Juice; 2 oz Coconut Cream. Although wouldn't you think this should be brown instead of pink?

Sex on the Beach:  Maybe I'm too old for this one and it doesn't have rum.  1.5 oz peach schnapps; 1.5 oz vodka; 2 oz cranberry juice; 2 oz orange juice; 2 oz pineapple juice.

Bacardí Rum has a more extensive list of rum cocktails, including the following:

Bahama Mama: 1 oz Bacardí 8 Rum; 1 oz Bacardí  Black Rum; .75 oz Kahlua; .75 oz Crème De Cacao Dark; 1 oz coconut milk; .5 oz Maple Syrup. It reminds me of my first cocktail (aside from rum and coke) in Mexico: an Alexander.  Bacardí has other interesting cocktails but for me they are too strong and would require a shot of soda water, like Dragon's Bite, which is just Dragon berry-flavored rum with coconut-flavored rum over ice.

Blue Zombie
Missionary's Downfall: 1 1/2 parts Bacardí Superior Rum; 1/2 part peach schnapps liqueur; 1 part Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice; 2 parts Freshly pressed pineapple juice; 1/2 part Sugar Syrup; 12 fresh mint leaves.  I admit that it's the name that attracted me to this one and also to the next one.

Zombie: 2 oz Bacardí Superior Rum; 1.75 oz Bacardí Gold Rum; 1 oz Triple Sec; 2 parts Orange Juice; 1 oz Lime Juice; 1 oz Simple Syrup; .25 oz Grenadine.  Even more interesting in color is this blue zombie from Modern Tiki which uses white rums and blue curaçao, as well as a Caribbean liqueur  or sugar syrup that I've never heard of called falernum with flavors of almond, ginger, lime, and sometimes vanilla, cloves, and allspice.  Maybe we can pick up a bottle to take home.

And, because we should experience the local Dominican food and drink, we'll have to try Mamajuana, a concoction of rum, red wine, honey and various barks and herbs that is let to sit for a while.  You can buy bottles of herbs and bark and add your own rum, wine and honey; sort of like licor de hierbas except for the wine.  Or you can buy it ready made.  I'd like to try it before I buy it or try to make it.

For those of you who like papaya (called lechosa in the Dominican Republic, there is a Batida de Lechosa (or Lechoza), a papaya milkshake.  Some people add a banana to it and I'm sure you could add a jigger or two of rum as well.  Even if the bars can't make me all the exotic cocktails, I'll be happy enough with jugo de chinola and freshly squeezed orange juice without the alcohol.

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