Infinite MonkeysI had this great idea for the Summer of Rum. I was going to write this series of mostly short posts on the history of rum and various thoughts on the proper construction of cocktails and the tiki drinks. I read a good and useful new history of rum by Charles Coulombe, which includes all kinds of recipes for food as well as drink. In fact, I wrote most of the stuff—long-hand, no less!—sitting by the pool at the fabulous Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, while sucking down corrupted Mai Tais and pretty decent pina coladas. Fact is, I mostly drank. Good stuff, I hasten add. Excellent stuff, really. Took notes and everything. And I'll post on that periodically.
But it was, mostly, all for naught. The long-hand writing is, frankly, crap. And I lost some of what I typed last week when my drive crashed.
Look, if you want to know everything about rum, read Coulombe's book. (Turns out, rum, religion, and politics—or rum, Romanism, and rebellion, if you like—have very close and ancient ties.) The authority on rum cocktails is Trader Vic (the bartender's guides from '47 and '72 aren't hard to find). I also recommend Salvatore Calabrese and (with certain reservations) Mittie Hellmich. I hear nothing but good things about Beach Bum Berry's Grog Log Book but I don't own it.
So what I intend to do is get on with the show and start posting drink recipes. Some may be well known. Others are variations on forgotten or obscure drinks.
To kick it off, I'm going with the obscure. I call it a "Man-o-war cocktail." It's a variation on an old drink called "El Presidente," which calls for Puerto Rican rum, French (dry) vermouth, grenadine, and orange curacao.
The Man-o-War cocktail
Stir and strain into an old-school cocktail class. Garnish with a lemon spiral.
What does it taste like?
Licorice candy with oranges. Sweet, but not too sweet.
You can use cheap white rum and crappy vermouth, but it won't taste as good. Trust me. You get what you pay for, brothers and sisters.
Posted by Ben at July 19, 2004 11:15 PM | TrackBackNot too sweet?
Guess I'll have to add a few Splenda packets.
Oh, wait, I don't like licorice. But I sho' do loves my Splenda!
Posted by: Monkey Brad at July 20, 2004 09:22 AMThe licorice flavor, I suspect, comes from the vermouth. I think it gives the drink a certain "manly" quality. (My wife sort of liked it, but not really, citing the licorice.) If you want to sweeten it up, in addition to adding Splenda, you could cut back on the vermouth by a quarter ounce or so and increase the amount of orange curacao slightly. You could also add a little more grenadine, but I included it primarily for color.
Posted by: Monkey Ben at July 20, 2004 09:27 AM