Your favorite drink from the Sippin' Safari....is?

Does anyone have a favorite yet?

I just made Don's Beach Planter, page 17, and it was fantastic.I had all the ingredients except for the Christian Brothers Brandy. This drink got better as the ice melted, down to the last drop. Here is the recipe for those who don't have the book yet.

Don's Beach Planter

1/2 oz.fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup
1 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
1 oz. amber Martinique rum
1/4 oz. dark Jamaican rum
1/4 oz. Christian Brothers brandy ( I used E & J X.O Brandy)
Dash Angostura bitters
6 drops (1/8 tsp.) Herbsaint Pernod (I made 4 drinks and used 1/8 tsp only for all)
4 oz. (1/2 cup) ice

put everything in blender, saving ice for last. Blend at high speed for no more than 5 seconds. Pour into pilsner glass. Add more crushed ice to fill.

From Don The Beachcomber's 1937.

I hope you'll like it too. Enjoy

I took the book to a local watering hole last night and had the bartender make me a Rain Killer. It was really good -- not too sweet, not too tart. Very balanced. I chose this partcicular drink because the bar had all the ingredients.

.....my next one.

[ Edited by: leisure master 2007-10-12 09:55 ]

The Nui Nui immediately went into regular rotation.

I've made about 15 drinks from the book so far and my current favorite is the Jet Pilot. There's a lot going on in that drink with the spices of the syrups combining really well with the rums.

I can't say this is my favorite yet, but last night we made the "Cou-Cou-Comber". Tasty and unusual! Here's a photo, and we did follow the instructions to, "sip through a straw, eating the cucumber as you go."

-Randy

That's wonderful!

Crap - does it get any more impressive than that? Your dedication is awe-inspiring, Randy (oops). I'm humbled....

[ Edited by: Haole'akamai 2007-11-03 00:18 ]

Yes! That rocks! Very nice presentation.

On 2007-10-15 01:45, LeChuck wrote:
I've made about 15 drinks from the book so far and my current favorite is the Jet Pilot. There's a lot going on in that drink with the spices of the syrups combining really well with the rums.

Absolutely agree, Jet Pilot tastes great. But I mixed a Don's Beach Planter and I don't remember it as a very special drink. I'll give it a second chance, Hiltiki.

http://bastardosaffrin.blogspot.com

[ Edited by: BastardoSaffrin 2007-11-12 23:40 ]

On 2007-11-12 23:38, BastardoSaffrin wrote:

On 2007-10-15 01:45, LeChuck wrote:
I've made about 15 drinks from the book so far and my current favorite is the Jet Pilot. There's a lot going on in that drink with the spices of the syrups combining really well with the rums.

Absolutely agree, Jet Pilot tastes great. But I mixed a Don's Beach Planter and I don't remember it as a very special drink. I'll give it a second chance, Hiltiki.

---

http://bastardosaffrin.blogspot.com

[ Edited by: BastardoSaffrin 2007-11-12 23:40 ]

The Jet Pilot was my favorite until I tried the Three Dots and a Dash. I liked it even better than the Jet Pilot.

On 2007-10-15 01:45, LeChuck wrote:
I've made about 15 drinks from the book so far and my current favorite is the Jet Pilot. There's a lot going on in that drink with the spices of the syrups combining really well with the rums.

Agree totally. I've been fiddling with the recipe a bit (but not too much), and this is my favorite so far:

1/2 oz. Grapefruit juice
1/2 oz. Lime Juice
1/4 oz. Torani Cinnamon syrup
1/2 oz. Falernum
1/8 tsp. Pernod
1 oz. Appleton X/V
3/4 oz. Cruzan Black Strap
3/4 oz. Lemon Hart Demerara 151
Dash Angostura Bitters

Still haven't made through half the recipes but my 3 favorites so far are Don the Beachcomber's Coffee Grog (p. 15), Coola Culla Don (p. 45), and Three Dots and a Dash (my first is in front of me right now - yum!). I can't wait to try the Jet Pilot.

The strongest one by far was Jim's Special! Kelbo's Scorpion was pretty potent too.

On 2007-10-28 18:30, aquarj wrote:
I can't say this is my favorite yet, but last night we made the "Cou-Cou-Comber". Tasty and unusual! Here's a photo, and we did follow the instructions to, "sip through a straw, eating the cucumber as you go."

-Randy

Wow, Randy, you are something! Awesome looking drink!

WOWeeeee! That Cou cou comber! That is sooo cool! Great effort - wish you were my friend! Really Awesome and inspiring, thanks for posting!

Yeah, sorry not to say something earlier, but that is one fantastic presentation on the Cou Cou.

I would gladly pay $1.35 for one of those...

Wow, Aguarj great picture, I see the where your young designer gets her eye. If TC had a picture of the year, I would nominate it.
Hiltiki, I would say Tiki Ti's Jim's Special pg 27 is my new favorite, I was given a bottle of Casadores agave and never used it until I saw this recipe, I took the Bum's advice and used frozen passion fruit pulp to make mine and his story of young Ray Buhen is classic.

• Ojaitimo wrote:
  If TC had a picture of the year, I would nominate it.*

And I'd vote for that photo. Posting it again cause one just doesn't see cocktail artistry like that everyday. Kudos.

I tasted the Jet Pilot last week. That's a fine libation.

midnite

After seeing the Bum's presentation of the book at the last Hukilau, the Zombie Punch went into serious rotation here.

Great as the Jet Pilot is in Sippin', it's still not the Mai-Kai Jet Pilot. I imagine part of it has to do with the fact that they have their own double secret Passion Fruit syrup recipe. There could be other differences as well.

Jim's Specials are something, huh? They give Zombies a run for their money in potency. And the Zombie Punch. Is magnifico, si?

When in Ft. Lauderdale, visit the Mai-Kai. (Ask for Babs)

Spent a goodly amount of time perusing "Sippin Safari" last night at a local drinking emporium. I had not studied it that much before, only a brief looksee. Swell job this time by the Bum, it's on my "Xmas must have" list.

Never one to step aside from a little taste, free as it were, I partook in a wee tasting experiment last night at said imbibing hall. The "Hot Zombie" basks in the glow of a great name, but gets the cold shoulder from this cocktail guinea pig. I wanted to like it, but couldn't. Heated fruit juices, at least in this incarnation, missed the mark.

The "Warm Tiger's Milk" (think that is correct) presents a tepid visual which is best served in a ceramic mug, not a glass. While it may scare a few with its looks, this one offers a heated electric blanket of comforting tropical tastes. I've never been one for the hot cocktails, but I would try this one again.

Cheers,
midnite test subject #22

I agree with you about the Hot Zombie, midnite. It tasted like hot pineapple and lime juice to me. I'll give the Hot Tiger's Milk a try.

The Sunakora is my favorite drink so far. Those of you that enjoy sweeter drinks will love this one, I believe. It has strong honey notes. I used Fee Brothers Falernum, which worked very well in this drink. Its a small drink, so make it a double. Just a fantastic drink, according to my taste buds, anyway. Severed at the Palm Springs Don the Beachcomber's. Don created this drink for his ex-wife, Sunny. If Don thought Sunny was a beautiful flower, then he really captured Sunny's spirit with this drink. Its genius mixology.

Speaking of "Sippin' Safari," anyone know if and when this book's recipes will be added to the Grogalizer?

On 2007-12-19 09:10, arriano wrote:
Speaking of "Sippin' Safari," anyone know if and when this book's recipes will be added to the Grogalyzer?

A few months ago I offered to send Swanky the drink ingredients and portions tabled out in an xls. But he said what's lacking is time, more than readily-usable data. :^P

On the topic of mixing drinks from Sippin' Safari: I don't know about you folks, but since it lacks a spiral binding, and won't lie flat, I've taken to copying out recipes as we try them, into a moleskine, to improve their legibility, try to preserve the book's binding, and finally, the notebook makes for a better medium to make "notes" on the drinks.

So, since we've been talking about both SS and Grogalyzer, I figured I'd post up Grogalyzer-style ratings and comments on what we've made so far:

*Jet Pilot 8 "Used Starbuck's cinnamon syrup. Pretty spicy. This syrup may be a bit 'hot' for the drink. Cut back a bit".

*Don's Beach Planter 7 "Pineapple.... rum... not terribly sweet. Nice. Deserves another pass and further evaluation."

*DTB Zombie (1956 Cabaret) 7. "Used Luxardo maraschino. Pretty strong maraschino liqueur flavor. Should use a tad less"

*DTB Zombie (1934 Dick Santiago's) 9. "damn near perfect!"

*Luau Grog 8. "Moderately sweet. Nice balance of rum flavor. Goes down smooth"

*Don's Own Grog 7

*Nui Nui (using telescope's shortcut recipe - pimento dram batch has another three weeks of stewing to go). Pretty good, but I'm withholding a formal rating until I can make it with real dram for comparison.

*Guatamala Cooler 8. "Very refreshing. Wahine particularly likes"

*Kon-Tiki Mai Tai 8 (to celebrate a fresh batch of ginger-infused sugar syrup). "It may not be 'true' to the original recipe, but I'm dying to use more ginger-infused syrup next time.".

*Sunakora 8, "another pretty solid sweet drink. Once again the Wahine sincerely likes".

I made the Jet pilot, and I used the cinnamon-infused sugar syrup (recipe from the book which was real easy to make). It came out not too spicy.

If you guys like the Jet Pilot from Sippin' Safari, try the War God. It's basically a Jet Pilot minus the cinnamon, which is preferable to my taste buds.

Hey, send me that spread sheet! I'll get around to adding to the Grogalizer one day and having that on hand will make it happen sooner!

The number of new ingredients makes it a bit of a pain, but, I'll get it done. So many are venturing into the new book. I had no idea. I have not made ANY of them!

Recently I bought in England a bottle of a sarsaparilla, so last night I mixed a Caribbean Punch. It's a weird ingredient, but the result came out as a sweet, complex, spicy drink. If you can get some sarsaparilla, try it.

I'm drinkin' Ray Buhens Cuba Kula, very nice and refreshingly tart and slightly complex taste. I'll make it again!!

Thank U, Drive Thru

[ Edited by: Mano Tiki Tia 2008-01-09 15:05 ]

Don't know about it being my favorite from Sippin', but it's gotta be close. The Pearl Diver's Punch. First had it at the Bum's seminar at Hukilau, but dealing with butter in a cocktail scared me off of it for a while. But finally got around to making a couple and they were a rousing success. A spectacular drink!

Sippin Safari is now in the Grogalizer.

On 2007-12-10 11:01, Ojaitimo wrote:
Wow, Aguarj great picture, I see the where your young designer gets her eye. If TC had a picture of the year, I would nominate it.
Hiltiki, I would say Tiki Ti's Jim's Special pg 27 is my new favorite, I was given a bottle of Casadores agave and never used it until I saw this recipe, I took the Bum's advice and used frozen passion fruit pulp to make mine and his story of young Ray Buhen is classic.

After trying 5-6 of the recipes in Sippin' Safari, I agree that Jim's Special is the best so far. I didn't have any white rum or Casadores in stock, so I substituted Appleton's V/X and Don Julio reposado. It turned out very well - extremely drinkable for such a strong cocktail.

The only issue I have with the recipe is that it's not clear what grade of tequila it calls for (blanco, reposado or anejo). The three result in quite different flavors.

Been a long cockatil making draught for various reasons. I decided to make something complicated from Sippin to get back into it. Made the Zombie 1956.

Very good. A complex drink that changes greatly from first sip to last swig.

I made the 1934 Zombie Punch (with real Absinthe) last Friday night:

On Sunday, I took a Donga Punch to the taste buds:

The Zombie was the winner...hands-down.

If you haven't yet, mix up a '34 Zombie Punch. The best Zombie I've ever had. Possibly the best drink in the book.

Currently, it's "Three Dots & a Dash."

Unfortunately, I go through my Martinique quickly.

Tonight I attempted my first drink from Sippin Safari. Of course, I had to take on something like the Pearl Diver Punch. I didn't have all of the exact ingredients so I made some substitutions. I didn't have orange blossom honey, so I used clover honey with a dash of orange flower water. I didnt havve cinnamon syrup, so I used my Navy Grog syrup which has cinnamon, pimento and vanilla. I didn't have Appleton Special, so I used Appleton gold with a little added Barbancourt and Pyrat XO.

It came out interesting. The strangest was the butter mixture. Even though it was very soft, almost fluid after mixed with the honey and syrups, it did clump up some in the blender with the ice. You can see in the picture the separation and the bits of butter sticking to the sides of the glass.

Taste wise, it was a bit of a disappointment. Not bad, but I guess I expected more. Maybe I'll try again sometime without the substitutions. Or perhaps I will move on to another drink.

On 2008-01-28 18:29, Swanky wrote:
Been a long cockatil making draught for various reasons. I decided to make something complicated from Sippin to get back into it. Made the Zombie 1956.
Very good. A complex drink that changes greatly from first sip to last swig.

I found it to be too heavy on the maraschino liqueur. That's all I tasted. Anybody have any advice on how to better use this liqueur? I am using the Luxardo.

Now....the 1934 Zombie Punch! Mmmm. My mistake was drinking half of the 1956 before making the 1934. I was zombified in no time.

So far, I have made my own ginger and cinnamon syrups from the directions in the book . Very good. I also have some pimento dram brewing in the pantry. I bought some grenadine and vanilla syrup from Sonoma Syrup Company. The grenadine is good as my homemade. Vanilla is awesome.

Anybody have any advice on how to better use this liqueur? I am using the Luxardo.

JHS,
Try a Gone the Beachcomber from the Grog Log. I think you'll like it.

On 2008-04-06 23:49, PiPhiRho wrote:
Taste wise, it was a bit of a disappointment. Not bad, but I guess I expected more. Maybe I'll try again sometime without the substitutions. Or perhaps I will move on to another drink.

Keep at it. When done right, it is a spectacular drink.

On 2008-04-07 15:51, alohacurrent wrote:

Anybody have any advice on how to better use this liqueur? I am using the Luxardo.

JHS,
Try a Gone the Beachcomber from the Grog Log. I think you'll like it.

Twist my arm....I'll give it a whirl. Thanks!

On 2008-04-07 11:03, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

On 2008-01-28 18:29, Swanky wrote:
Been a long cockatil making draught for various reasons. I decided to make something complicated from Sippin to get back into it. Made the Zombie 1956.
Very good. A complex drink that changes greatly from first sip to last swig.

I found it to be too heavy on the maraschino liqueur. That's all I tasted. Anybody have any advice on how to better use this liqueur? I am using the Luxardo.

A lot of the recipes in Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide call for maraschino liqueur. Well, they're all pretty much the same recipe with minor variations on the choice of rum, whether you use sugar or sugar syrup and whether or not to add Pernod. The problem with TV's recipes is that they call for a "dash" of the liqueur. "No problem," you might think, "the good Trader included a nifty little primer on bar measurements near the beginning of the book." While that's true, he provides two definitions of "dash" (either 1/4 oz. or 1/8 tsp.) and doesn't indicate which applies to liqueurs.

After trying a Barbados cocktail using the 1 dash = 1/4 oz. measurement, I am guessing that I guessed incorrectly.

A lot of the recipes in Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide call for maraschino liqueur. Well, they're all pretty much the same recipe with minor variations on the choice of rum, whether you use sugar or sugar syrup and whether or not to add Pernod. The problem with TV's recipes is that they call for a "dash" of the liqueur. "No problem," you might think, "the good Trader included a nifty little primer on bar measurements near the beginning of the book." While that's true, he provides two definitions of "dash" (either 1/4 oz. or 1/8 tsp.) and doesn't indicate which applies to liqueurs.

After trying a Barbados cocktail using the 1 dash = 1/4 oz. measurement, I am guessing that I guessed incorrectly.

I am finding the same thing. The price of learning I reckon. So, 1/4oz is equal to 2 teaspoons while 1/8oz is equal to 6 drops. Right?

On 2008-04-08 08:13, jingleheimerschmidt wrote:

A lot of the recipes in Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide call for maraschino liqueur. Well, they're all pretty much the same recipe with minor variations on the choice of rum, whether you use sugar or sugar syrup and whether or not to add Pernod. The problem with TV's recipes is that they call for a "dash" of the liqueur. "No problem," you might think, "the good Trader included a nifty little primer on bar measurements near the beginning of the book." While that's true, he provides two definitions of "dash" (either 1/4 oz. or 1/8 tsp.) and doesn't indicate which applies to liqueurs.

After trying a Barbados cocktail using the 1 dash = 1/4 oz. measurement, I am guessing that I guessed incorrectly.

I am finding the same thing. The price of learning I reckon. So, 1/4oz is equal to 2 teaspoons while 1/8oz is equal to 6 drops. Right?

I'm completely confused once the terms "dash" and "drop" are thrown into the mix. There doesn't seem to be a consensus on what these measurements mean. For example, TV's two definitions are pretty far apart. 1/4 oz. (the "dash" for sugar syrup and juices) is 1.5 tsps. That's a measure 8 times larger than the other definition of dash (for bitters), which is 1/8 tsp. Since he doesn't provide a comprehensive list of the types of fluids that one or the other apply to, it could lead to some confusion.

I broke in my home-brewed allspice liqueur last night and whipped up a Nui Nui. Wow. Very good. It might be in my top three of all tiki drinks, with the mai tai and one of my proprietary recipes. The Three Dots and a Dash is next on my agenda.

Add another vote for the Jet Pilot. I used my own cinnamon syrup...word to the wise: when crushing your cinnamon sticks, better to leave the pieces a little larger so they are easier to strain out. My current batch of syrup is the "chunky" variety! I also am liking the 1934 Zombie...the 1950 Speivak Zombie from "Intoxica" never did taste quite right to me, now I know why.

No wonder you like the '34 Zombie if you like the Jet Pilot. Just last week I realized how similar these two recipes are. I'd say my current top 3 from Sippin' Safari are the '34 Zombie, the Jet Pilot and the Nui Nui. Jim's Special, Pearl Diver's Punch and Three Dots and a Dash are close behind. I didn't really care for the '56 Zombie. Of the 3 Zombie recipes, it's the one I like the least...

Tried the Three Dots last weekend. Wow, what a great drink. I think I liked it better than the Nui Nui.