Post #783505 by Hurricane Hayward on Mon, Jan 29, 2018 10:44 PM

While eagerly awaiting the release of the expanded and enhanced edition of Beachbum Berry's Sippin' Safari, I decided to revisit one of Don the Beachcomber's classes and tweak it a bit with some modern rums.

CUBA KULA, from the personal notebook of Ray Buhen dated 1935. I consider this to be Don's proto-Rum Barrel, containing many of the hallmark ingredients that later went into that classic. The Sippin' Safari recipe calls for Myers's dark Jamaican, Lemon Hart Demerara, and Bacardi 151 rums. I took the liberty of using Coruba, Hamilton 86 and Plantation O.F.T.D., adjusted the proportions of some of the other ingredients, and came up with two very good alternatives ...

V.1
1 oz lime
1 oz honey
1 oz OJ
1 oz Coruba dark Jamaican rum (or Appleton 12)
1 oz Hamilton 86 (or Lemon Hart Demerara)
3/4 oz Plantation O.F.T.D.
2 dashes Angostura bitters
6 drops Pernod

V.2
1 oz lime
1 oz honey
1 oz OJ
1 oz Coruba dark Jamaican rum (or Appleton 12)
1 oz Hamilton 86 (or Lemon Hart Demerara)
1 oz Plantation O.F.T.D.
4 drops Herbstura (50/50 mix of Herbsaint and Angostura bitters)

While the differences are slight, they're definitely discernable. Both feature less lime, more honey and more rum than the original. I found V.1 to be tart and spicy with just enough rum to be dangerous. The Pernod is more prominent in this version. V2 has a more classic Barrel profile: Rich, sour and sweet with a very potent rum kick.

Okole maluna!