Post #576884 by telescopes on Sat, Feb 19, 2011 8:25 PM

Not long ago, I visited Smuggler's Cove on one of my many tikiquests. I was amazed and awed at the caliber of what they have accomplished. So overwhelmed was I, that I started a thread, Is Smuggler's Cove the next Tiki Ti. http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=38772&forum=10&hilite=smuggler's%20cove

In my opinion, it was.

But then... while I have been to Forbidden Island many times before, my last visit on Friday absolutely blew me away and has caused me to rethink some things.

First, FI is eye candy extreme. While Tiki No is no back show number itself, FI reeks of authenticity from top to bottom, from the old movies to the music.

And then there was Suzanne, the bartender who waited on me. Her expertise and skill rivaled the best that I have seen. The Navy Grog that I began with was so balanced and nuanced - the spices played before me but they didn't rush to the forefront. That was saved for the rums.

The Mai Tai, a luau happy hour version, went down like silk. The flavors played with each other the way you would want a group of preschoolers to do. Nicely and without anyone being selfish.

Next, and this is where Forbidden Island exited into greatness, the Sazerac Cocktail absolutely and completely remade my concept of what a cocktail could and should be.

Using a rose syrup and the St. George Absinthe as well as a small batch Kentucky Bourbon, the Sazerac was put together the old fashioned way. The glass was iced down, the liquids were stirred with ice until the right amount of melt had occurred. And then, it was put together and a new universe was born.

I quite chasing the perfect Sazerac along time ago, because no one, and I mean no one, could put one together that allowed all of the flavors to walk together in peace. Always, one flavor or the other predominated.

Not this time. No, not this time. I tell you here and now that I have had no finer cocktail. Suzanne created something that surely must be what people a hundred years ago thought about when they had a cocktail. It was heaven.

I didn't believe a cocktail like this could exist. Only once before had I tasted something almost as good and that was at the Tram Bar high above Palm Springs. An odd fellow - a true cocktail enthusiast, made me the perfect Old Fashioned. But here at Sea Level, ten thousand feet less, I was not in hell or purgatory. I was in Forbidden Island drinking the concoctions of a gifted artist.

Forbidden Island wins because they have raised the art of the drink beyond simply high quality tiki drinks. They have brought art back to drinking. My final drink was a spin on a sweet martini called a Howards End (if I have it right). Again, this gin cocktail soared to new levels with the addition of lillet and a few other ingredients.

So, there it is. Forbidden Island wins.

For now any way. Do you agree?

[ Edited by: telescopes 2011-02-19 22:20 ]

[ Edited by: telescopes 2011-02-20 07:03 ]