Cooking Lesson #748: A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea Cocktail

…from the Perspectives’ Happy Hour Bar

How you doin’? It’s Spring!... and time for spring break on a lovely island.  So I offer A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea cocktail served in a Collins glass, with foamy top, garnished with coffee beans and pineapple fronds.
 
The best cocktails taste good and look pleasing to the eye, but a well-conceived name can be the difference between a drink that fades into the night and one with centuries of staying power. It’s yet to be determined whether we’ll still be drinking the 11-word cocktail decades into the future, but with a memorable name and tasty blend of ingredients, it could happen.
 
This cocktail combines three types of rum (I love rum) with pineapple and lime juices, demerara syrup and cold brew coffee. The first rum is an unaged rhum Agricole, which is distilled from fresh sugarcane juice rather than the more common molasses, and sports a grassy, earthy flavor.

Then there’s Blackstrap rum which is characterized more by its dark color than by any actual regulations. The category often features young distillates that get their inky hue from caramel coloring, not lengthy barrel aging. But those rums can be intensely flavorful and fun to work with, and blackstrap rums are used in cocktails like the Jungle Bird and Corn ’n’ Oil. Lastly, the recipe calls for Old Port Deluxe rum, which is made in Bangalore, India, using 100% local sugarcane.
 
The rums are sweetened with demerara syrup, a type of simple syrup made with demerara sugar, which has a coarse grain and light tan color. With notes of molasses, toffee and coffee, it provides a richer, deeper flavor than traditional simple syrup, so it pairs well with dark spirits and is a staple in many Tiki-style cocktails.
 
Pineapple lends sweet, tropical notes, while fresh lime juice provides citrusy/acidy balance. Finally, the cocktail is topped with a small pour of cold brew coffee before it’s garnished with coffee beans and pineapple leaves.
 
A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea may sound weird, but with a trio of rums, bright fruits and coffee, it’s a fun, complex cocktail to be enjoyed on spring break or whenever the mood strikes.
 
Ingredients 
1-1/2 ounces Rhum J.M Agricole Blanc
1/2 ounce Cruzan blackstrap rum
1/2 ounce Old Port Deluxe matured rum
1 ounce pineapple juice
3/4 ounce demerara syrup (1 part demerara sugar, 1 part water/boiled)
3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 ounce La Colombe cold brew coffee
Garnish: roasted coffee beans
Garnish: pineapple fronds
 
Directions

1. Add the Rhum Agricole, Blackstrap Rum, Old Port Rum, pineapple juice, demerara syrup, lime juice and cold brew coffee to a shaker with ice and shake it like you mean it until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a Tiki mug or Collins glass filled with crushed ice.
3. Garnish with coffee beans and pineapple fronds.

ChefSecret:  Inventing a cocktail is like having a kid. Conceiving it is the easy part. The challenges come later. And many bartenders will attest that one of the hardest parts of cocktail creation is conjuring the right name. This is, after all, the first interaction drinkers will have with the cocktail, and can impact whether or not the drink will sell well.

Quip of the Day:  Q: What do you call it when it rains chickens and ducks during spring break?  A: FOUL weather.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#Cocktail #FoggySeaCocktail #Rum #Coffee #CruzanRum #Rhum #Cheers #HappyHour #2024 #T2T #URM #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 
 
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