Sweet Leilani

Hello to all. I've been lurking around here for around two years or so, mostly in the carving pages, but I decided to come on over here for a while.
This particular drink I'm listing here is something I came up with by mixing everything I had in the fridge (well almost). It's pretty sweet, so it really needs the blending with ice, otherwise it's a bit too syrupy.
Let me know what you think, or if you make any improvements.

"Sweet Leilani"
2oz light rum
1oz coconut rum
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz banana liquer
1/2 oz orgeat
1/2 oz passionfruit syrup
1/2 oz grenadine
2oz guava nectar
5oz pineapple juice
blend with several ice cubes, serve in any type of "wahine" style mug, garnish with either orchid or plumeria flowers.

I'm also interested in knowing what your favorite recipes are for bowls (flaming and non-flaming). I've tried searching around, and come up a bit, well, um, dry. I recently got a couple of nice bowls and wanted to have some really good drinks to impress folks with.

Hi Josh, welcome and thanks for your recipe. It looks like it would be a really sweet drink, so you picked the right name for it. I'm not much of a mixologist, but I think it might need a little something sour or bitter to balance it. I'm sure the experts here can give better advice. Keep experimenting, and let us know how it tastes!

On 2005-05-14 20:57, ookoo lady wrote:
It looks like it would be a really sweet drink, so you picked the right name for it. I'm not much of a mixologist, but I think it might need a little something sour or bitter to balance it.

It is really sweet. My wife tends to like things like that, so it suits her well. The pineapple juice I use is just Dole from a can, and since it's unsweetened, it actually balances pretty well (at least I think so). I originally made this with about 2 oz of Pineapple juice and it was like drinking cough syrup. Adding the extra 3 oz worth really makes it better. Watering it down by blending also attenuates some of the sweetness.
Thanks for the comment! I'm hoping to be able to make a whole bunch to pass out at Tiki Oasis next year!

On 2005-05-13 23:37, TikiJosh wrote:

Let me know what you think, or if you make any improvements.

"Sweet Leilani"
2oz light rum
1oz coconut rum
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz banana liquer
1/2 oz orgeat
1/2 oz passionfruit syrup
1/2 oz grenadine
2oz guava nectar
5oz pineapple juice
blend with several ice cubes, serve in any type of "wahine" style mug, garnish with either orchid or plumeria flowers.

I'm going to recommend that you focus it a bit better by tuning down the number of ingredients and going for a more pointed approach.

For instance, I could eliminate a few of your ingredients, up the amount of one, and maybe try this combo:

"Sweet Leilani"
2oz light rum
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz passionfruit syrup
3oz guava nectar

Add in:

3/4 oz Fresh squeezed Lemon juice

Shake with ice.

Now I don't have my gear and my bar in front of me to try this one, but that is a much more balanced concoction that will still come across as rather sweet, and the flavors will be more... apparent.

Here is a rough "educated guess-timate" break down of your drink as it stands:

2.5 of strong
4 of sweet
6 of weak

I think what might help you is to practice all of your mixology ventures under the umbrella of the classic code for balance:

1 of sour
2 of sweet
3 of strong
4 of weak

Try this simple one for example:

1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
2 oz sugar syrup
3 oz decent rum
4 oz cold soda water

Shake the first three with crushed ice and strain into two tall glasses with a scoop of crushed ice each. Top equally with soda and give it a stir.

Now that is the most basic rum drink there is. Bearing in mind that the ice acts as a "weak" should be something you notice here, so you might try it with a stir only to see the difference.

Next try one with the same formula, but a little change to the ingredients:

1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
2 oz sugar syrup
3 oz decent rum
4 oz. orange juice

Shake with crushed ice and pour into two rocks glasses along with the ice.

Notice here that the "weak" component of OJ is both sweet and watery, so this drink is much sweeter than the previous cocktail. The OJ adds sugar that the soda water did not. It also adds a bit of acid, so both the "sweet" component and the "sour" component would need to be adjusted slightly to compensate.

Dig?

Once you get that basic balance down, you can really mix it up with the addition of items that bring depth such as bitters, spice liqueurs, fruit syrups, exotic juices, etc. And you can begin to change the amounts around to get a sour drink or a dry drink as you wish. But nail the balance first as a starting point and you'll always be golden.

Hope that helps man, and don't forget to have fun with it all.

Aloha,

Ahu

(Edited to fix a confusing typo)

[ Edited by: kukuahu on 2005-05-16 16:17 ]

Wow! That's some killer advice. I like your suggestion for the modification. I'm trying it tonight!

However your drink recipe ends up, I hope you serve it in a Tiki Leilani mug!
-Duke