Pusser's Pain Killer

 

There's not much difference between the standard Pain Killer and the Pusser's variety other than it is a proprietary recipe of the British Navy rum. And when you use Guyana rum like this, it is a major feature of the drink. It tastes more like fresh cane sugar than a heavy molasses rum, for one thing. The other is that a lot of it will have you feeling no pain. 

So adjusting for the difference in rum and pineapple juice, which is higher in this recipe than standard, there's just the question of nutmeg. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I feel it is an integral part of the Pain Killer experience, like salt on a Margarita. So while it is in the picture, because that is the way I like it, you don't need to use it if you don't. 

In fact, don't go out of your way to get nutmeg for this recipe, or spend time looking for the British flag you used to get with every bottle of Pusser's. Mine didn't come with a flag. I just made sure to use red and blue straws to signify the Union Jack. 

• 4 oz. Pusser's British Navy rum
• 4 oz. pineapple juice
  
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. coconut cream or syrup
• orange slice as garnish
• tiny British flag (optional, but go for some British symbolism in the garnsih)

Combine all ingredients except orange slice and other garnishes with cracked ice in a shaker or blender. Shake or blend briefly and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Garnish with orange slice and British Flag. (Note: nutmeg is pictured but not required for this recipe.)

 

Jamaica Mule

 

I think I've just covered all of the Jamaica-themed cocktail out there. I'm returning to this old stand by that I've made in the past to try it with fresh ingredients (I've been squeezing the pineapple juice along with the citrus) and a lovely ginger beer. Fentiman's is a spicy botanical ginger beer that tastes not only fresh but barreled and oaky. 

The cocktail departs from the standard Mule by being so large that it requires a Collins glass, but not crushed ice. There's a lot of booze in it too--between the 151-proof rum and the full measures of light and dark rum, you may want to wait a bit before having another one. 

• 1 1/2 oz. light Jamaican rum (Plantation 3-Stars used)
• 1/2 oz. dark Jamaican rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 1/2 oz. 151-proof rum (Cruzan 151 used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• ginger beer (Fentiman's used)
  
• pineapple stick
• piece of preserved ginger

Combine rums and juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Chilled collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and stir gently. Garnish with pineapple stick and preserved ginger.

J.P.'s Punch

 

J.P. must have been a bartender who worked at a beach bar. Anyway, he was good with a blender. I can imagine bar guests watching him slice a banana and tossing the pieces into the pitcher with all the spirits and juices that he hardly takes time to measure before blending up several of these cocktails at once. 

This might actually be my first single serving blended punch featured on this blog. I'm not a huge fan of beach hut cocktails and blenders in general. They water down the flavor and make a lot of the measurements of liquor imprecise as you struggle to fit all of the drink into a single glass. But for a punch, this isn't bad. Double or triple the recipe for friends and you'll be a hit just like J.P.

• 1 oz. light rum (Rhum Barbancourt used)
• 1 oz. dark rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 sliced banana
• maraschino cherry garnish
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled double Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with the cherry.

Jamaican Peach

 

I don't know why this Jamaican-themed drink includes peaches at all. It's not like peaches grow on the island or anything. In reality, it was probably a way to sell peach brandy, since the recipe doesn't include any actual peaches. The peach slice you see in the photo comes from my insistence on using fresh ingredients if you have them. Also, a garnish is a wonderful way to signal the flavors you are working with, even though the spirits may be artificially flavored.

In place of peach brandy, I used an equally artificial peach whiskey by Bird Dog. It's actually pretty good when used in tropical drinks and is probably my favorite cheap flavored whiskey purchase. Actually it was a gift, so it was very cheap--free.

• 1 1/2 oz. Jamaica dark rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 1 1/2 oz. peach brandy (Bird Dog peach whiskey used)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
  
• 1 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1 oz. guava juice
• several dashes of falernum (homemade falernum used)
• pineapple stick
• orange slice

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a double Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with the fruit pieces.

Javier Saavedra

 

Ask a soccer fan if they remember who Javier Saavedra is. The former San Antonio Scorpions midfielder has a pretty awesome cocktail to his name. When I saw the list of ingredients, especially the combination of dark rum and tequila, I had to give it a try. 

White tequila gives this tropical drink an herbal spiciness that is missing in a lot of Caribbean-themed cocktails. I really appreciate the direction it takes the cocktail from the typically sugary and sweet rum that is the focus of these kinds of drinks. Again, the orange slice on the cocktail is misleading if you are trying to guess the ingredients. The thing you can't identify: grapefruit juice.

• 1 oz. Jamica dark rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 1 oz. white tequila (Sauza %100 blue agave used)
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. grapefruit juice
• orange slice garnish
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange slice.

Jambo Jack

 

One of the things that makes tiki cocktails so much fun is trying to identify all the ingredients that make up their exotic flavors. The pineapple stick in the Jambo Jack is a red herring. There's no pineapple juice, so what is that unusual flavor?

Apricot brandy is a sneaky way to surprise guests with something unexpected in a tropical drink. That, and falernum with its overwhelming combo of spices and citrus, help to make the Jambo Jack stand out from other blended drinks. The recipe gives you the option to use orgeat, which will make the cocktail a little creamier and might tame it a bit. But I don't mind using falernum whenever I get the chance.

Dark rum, particularly if you use Jamaican rum, will also shine through with molasses and funky spirits notes. My bottle of Pusser's rum from Guyana will have to do in place of Jamaican. 

• 1 1/2 oz. dark Jamaican rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 1/2 oz. curacao (triple sec used)
• 1/2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. orgeat or falernum (homemade falernum used) 
• pineapple stick. 

Combine all liquid ingredients with ice in a blender. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Garnish with the pineapple stick. 

Mobay Cocktail

 

This is another one of those internationally-styled club cocktails like the Clover Club or Pendennis Club. These cocktails tend to be brightly colored and easy to consume. They virtually advertise themselves at the clubs and advertise for the clubs when ordered elsewhere. 

The name comes from Mobay Club on Montego Bay, but there's not much of the beach involved here. No tropical fruits, no wild island-themed garnishes--besides the Jamaican rum, this cocktail is strikingly French. There's the mistakable ruby color of Dubonnet rouge and the rich candied orange flavor or Grand Marnier--a favorite ingredient of clubs and hotels worldwide. 

The only substitutions I've made (and they are minor) is that I'm using Pusser's dark rum instead of something from Jamaica, and that I use Royal Combier (another French orange cognac liqueur) instead of Grand Marnier. As my last drink of the day, I found it overly rich, however. I'm not sure if it was the ingredients or the fact that the Movay seemed incongruent with other Jamaican-themed cocktails with a lemon twist as its only fruit. 

• 1 1/2 oz. dark Jamaican rum (Pusser's dark rum used)
• 1/2 oz. Dubonnet rouge
• several dashes Grand Marnier (Royal Combier used)
• lemon twist

Combine all liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a lemon zest over the glass and drop it in. 

China

 

I've made the Chinese Cocktail, which is also a red cocktail that is made with dark rum, colored with grenadine, and spiced with Angostura bitters. This is a little different and I think I might like it a little better if only because passion fruit really makes this cocktail pop. In fact, it is the only difference between the China and Chinese cocktails, and it is probably the only Asian ingredients. Of course I used my homemade La Grande Passion liqueur because it is hard to find passion fruit nectar right now. I kept the proportions the same, however, with the passion fruit flavor of my liqueur being strong enough--maybe even stronger than actual passion fruit nectar or juice.

Rum, for some reason, is the principal spirit in China-themed cocktails, including the Shanghai Cocktail that also includes grenadine to make it a flag-red color. Angostura bitters is full of Asian spices like clove, cinnamon, allspice and exotic barks. It tastes like Chinese five-spice mix!  Anise, in the case of the Pernod in the Shanghai Cocktail, is also a very Chinese flavor, so that also seems appropriate. I'm glad that I've been able to try all three of these very similar cocktails.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Pusser's used)
• 1 oz. curacao (triple sec used)
• 1/2 oz. passion fruit juice (homemade La Grande Passion used)
• several dashes grenadine
• several dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Undertow

 

I really like the combination of flavors in this crushed ice cocktail. There's gin, there's rich rum and nutty creme de noyaux. The fruit flavors are a mix of classic lime juice like a Daiquiri and gummy tasting guava syrup. Undertow is the dangerous current beneath the surface of the water that swimmers must be wary of. You see it in shallows alongside reefs or in rivers beneath a waterfall. Undertow will take you down. 

In this cocktail, the danger beneath the very calm and relaxing surface of tropical flavors is the one-two punch of rum and gin. I used British-themed spirits to represent both in this cocktail. I only wish I had a little British flag as a garnish.

• 1 1/2 oz. gold Jamaican rum (Pusser's used)
• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bulldog used)
• 1/2 oz. creme de noyaux (Tempus Fugit used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. guava or passion fruit syrup (guava used)
• lime twist

Combine all liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend briefly and pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Twist lime peel over the drink and drop it in the glass. 

Quarter Deck (With Pusser's Rum)

This simple cocktail is part of a pair of naval drinks that swing towards rich and sweet aperitifs or desserts. The "Deck" cocktails that include the Poop Deck and this one are very similar in that they use an aged spirit and a fortified wine in a simple mixture that is served up. I've re-done this cocktail to bring it a little closer to something that might be enjoyed on a British Navy vessel some hundred and sixty years ago. In a previous iteration I used spiced rum, which isn't historically accurate.

As it appears now, the sherry is medium sweet and the Pusser's is Caribbean dark rum with lots of character from its wooden still and barrel aging. A sweeter sherry is probably appropriate for balance, so I added a touch of brown sugar syrup that blends with the dark sugary notes almost imperceptively.

• 1 1/2 oz. dark rum (Pusser's used)
• 3/4 oz. cream sherry (Amontillado used plus 1/2 tsp. brown sugar syrup for balance)
• 1 tsp. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Mandarin Punch

 

This cocktail is pleasingly rich and fruity with vanilla and caramel notes from the barrel aged rum and the flavored cognac in Mandarine Napoleon. In case you are wondering, this Mandarine Napoleon is my homemade knock off that tastes pretty good. I appreciate how mandarin-infused cognac really can alter the flavor of the fruit juices in this drink--you think that there is some fresh mandarin in there somewhere.

As always, I used fresh squeezed juices and saved some for the garnishes.

• 1 1/2 oz. dark Jamaican rum (Pusser's used)
• 1/2 (-1 oz. mandarin liqueur, maybe you have the actual Mandarine Napoleon)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• orange slice
• maraschino cherry

Combine juices and liquors in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the fruit pieces. 

Rumbo

With rum, I sometimes find it hard to decide between a tropical cocktail or something stiff in a rocks glass. Happily, this cocktail falls somewhere between the two. Rich rum and tropical fruit juices split the difference. You get a strong, flavorful cocktail with the Rumbo, but you don't miss out on exotic flavor of guava juice. You also have the option to do it on the rocks or blended, so it really is a rum drink to suit any mood.

• 3 oz. Hatian or Barbados rum (Plantation 3 Stars used)
• 1 oz. Jamaican dark rum (Pusser's British Navy used)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 2 oz. guava juice
• several dashes lime juice
• Fruit pieces as garnish (optional)

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker or blender with ice. Shake or blend and pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. 

Bitch's Itch

 

There's a lot going on in this tropical drink. There's dark rum and cacao. Then there's fresh spices grated under your nose. Other spices show up in the liquors themselves, such as the anise and allspice in Falernum. Then there's just a hint of cinnamon from Murlarkey cinnamon whiskey. 

This tiki cocktail probably got the most favorable response of all the ones I made last weekend. It is also stupefying. The float of 151-proof rum seems a little unnecessary, but maybe it is to reassure veteran tiki drinkers that there is some alcoholic kick in there under all the spice and fruit flavor. 

• 2 oz. 86-proof demerara rum (Pusser's navy rum used)
• 1/2 oz. white creme de cacao
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. falernum
• 1/4 oz. MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey (optional)
  
• 1/2 tsp. 151-proof rum
  
• cinnamon stick
• whole nutmeg 
• orange slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker or blender with ice. Shake or blend and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Float 151 on top and grate cinnamon and nutmeg over the drink. Garnish with the orange slice.

Morning Dip

 

In keeping with the "Morning" series of strong cocktails with orange juice, this tropical treat is on the spicy side. In this case it is rum and a little bit of juice. The rest is in the liqueurs: maraschino like the Morning Cocktail with falernum in place of the Pernod for spiciness. 

My falernum recipe has a little star anise, cinnamon, allspice and ginger; it's completely tropical tasting. I used brown sugar in this batch, so it is extra rich with molasses sweetness. Pusser's navy rum will have to do for the very specific Puerto Rico gold that the recipe specifies. The difference between Guyana and Puerto Rico is kinda large, but I'm over it. This old recipe I'm using dates from a time where Puerto Rico was the only place you could get rum from in the U.S., and the "gold" lable really means that it is supposed to have more of an aged flavor. Pusser's accomplishes this and then some. 

• 1 1/2 oz. Puerto Rican gold rum (Pussar's used)
• 1 tsp. maraschino liqueur  
• 1 tsp. orange juice
• 1 tsp. sugar or falernum (homemade falernum used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Pina Colada For Friends

I'm not sure why this cocktail gets it's own entry in the New York Bartender's Guide. The Pina Colada is a blender cocktail, so you can make a scaled up version of the single serving recipe if you like. But because it is listed in the book, I had to find an occasion to make the recipe that serves four people!

That is the reason why this is the last recipe in my quest to complete the New York Bartender's Guide 1997 edition. This has been a journey of more than four years, some of it frenetic during spurts of drinking activity and some of it drawn out as rare ingredients proved a challenge to find or make. All in all it has been an amazing journey and one that really made the mundane career as a bartender far more rewarding. It required me to go beyond the popular, the ordinary, and the safe. I had to create ingredients like Amer Picon, falernum, Forbidden Fruit and apricot brandy. I went on quests to find Lillet Blanc, Dubonnet Rouge, Pomelos, Batavia Arrack and Combier. And best of all, I learned how to make the most obscure and out of fashion cocktails just as the cocktail revival was underway, bringing these forgotten classics back to light. Now people ask for Aviations, Brookland Cocktails, and Swizzles and I can make them. So this goal, as arbitrary and costly as it was as, has enriched my bar-tending skill and my life.

Here's the final recipe of my long-awaited finale: the Pina Colada For Friends.

• 1 cup light rum (Flor de Cana Extra Seco used)
• 2 oz. dark rum (Pusser's Navy Rum used)
• 5 oz. coconut cream
• 10 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. half and half
• 4 pineapple spears and leaves

Combine liquid ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into four chilled Collins glasses. Garnish with pineapple spears and leaves. 

Jet Pilot (Smuggler's Cove recipe)

The Jet Pilot sounds a little mundane in the 21st century, But Martin Cate reminds us that in the 1950s, these pilots were modern day explorers who pushed the limits of machine and human ability. This cocktail is also designed to push the limits--coming out of nowhere with a full-force of flavor, and overwhelming the drinker with a powerful belt of strong rums.

For this cocktail I used my own falernum rather than John D. Taylor's. I also made black, overproof rum by adding black strap molasses (right).  

Cinnamon syrup is also a must. I simply made it by adding cinnamon sticks to my usual simple syrup recipe. This goes great with the ginger, allspice, clove, and cardamon I used in the falernum.

One final note: Aguardiente is an anise flavored cane spirit from Columbia, which makes it perfect for a rum cocktail. It is great by itself, it's taste sweeter and more mild than absinthe or Herbstura. I used a little more than a dash because of this. 

• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. cinnamon syrup
• 1/2 oz. homemade falernum
• 1 oz. black blended rum (homemade black rum used)
• 3/4 oz. blended aged rum (Pusser's Navy Rum used)
• 3/4 oz. black overproof rum (Homemade black rum used)
• 1 dash herbstura (a drizzle of Aguardiente used)

Add all ingredients to a blender with ice and blend. Open strain into a double Old Fashioned glass with a gated finish to catch the large ice chunks. (No garnish stated, but flowers are lovely.)

The Golden Gun

Sounding a lot like a James Bond film, this exotic cocktail from Martin Cate's Smuggler's Cove cookbook is an easy way to go Tiki with just a handful of ingredients. The key, of course, is good rum and fresh ingredients. Demerara syrup makes the sweet flavor taste more earthy and exotic. Apricot liqueur ups the fruitness, and the rum is all important.

• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. demerara simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. apricot liqueur (Jaquin's used)
• 1 oz. blended aged rum (Pusser's Navy Rum used)
• 1 oz. blended lightly aged rum (Flor de Cana extra seco used)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill a Collins or highball glass with cracked or cubed ice. Add all the ingredients to the cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into the Collins glass. Garnish with your choice of fruits, stir sticks, and herbs. (I chose a peach slice as an appropriate pairing with apricot liqueur.)

Jamaica Egg Cream

The point of an Egg Cream is to have a thick and tart drink that tastes like you used egg white to create foam. Most egg creams don't have egg in them, though. This one uses half-and-half. It is an unusual combination of rum and gin: dark rum specifically.

The dark rum you use in a Jamaican themed drink should be rich and flavorful like those of Jamaica. I had the next best thing on hand, Pusser's Guyana rum is pretty close. Then I chose Vitae modern gin because it is rum-based and will keep the spirits profile consistent. This is a rich and rewarding tropical drink that is unlike most I've ever tasted. It really lets the flavor of the rum shine.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Jamaican recommended but Pusser's British Navy used)
• 1 oz. gin (Vitae modern gin used)
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• sparkling water

Combine all ingredients except half-and-half and sparkling water in a shaker with ice and shake to chill. Add half-and-half and shake again to combine. Strain into a chilled Collins glass full of fresh ice and top with sparkling water.

Kingston Cocktail

Most Jamaican-themed cocktails make use of the richly flavored local rum as well as Jamaica's cash crop, coffee. There's plenty of instances where no rum is used at all, and just coffee liqueur or coffee are used. This happens in hot and cold drinks alike.

I wish I had Appleton Estate rum for this cocktail, but Pusser's Rum is probably the closest match for Jamaica's funky and flavorful well aged rums. Wooden stills and long again make Pusser's Guyana rum very similar to the older Jamaican rums. The amount of coffee liqueur, and I used my homemade coffee liqueur with cold brew coffee, rum and vanilla and coco flavors, is pretty minimal, so this turns out to be a cocktail that really features and plays well with a tasty rum.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Jamaican rum recommended, Pusser's Rum used)
• 3/4 oz. coffee liqueur (homemade coffee liqueur used)
• 2 tsp. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Shark Bite

More shark drinks with grenadine, this one is a delicious frozen dark rum cocktail. Dark rum tends to have a sweet taste, and this drink goes further with sweetness, adding a whole ounce of grenadine. This might not be necessary. The orange juice does a lot to spread the tartness out, but for a boat drink, the Shark Bite is very nice.

• 2 oz. dark rum (Pusser's British Navy Rum used)
• 3 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. grenadine

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled wine glass.