Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean, released Dec. 2013

At Last, December 5th Potions of the Caribbean will be released and available at cocktailkingdom.com

more details to follow!

[ Edited by: Hakalugi - updated Subject to indicate book has been released. - 2014-07-20 00:36 ]

Just in time for Christmas!

Nice! Preview please :)

I can't wait. I want it NOW!

A Repeal Day release! I like it!!

I wonder if he's got the formula for the original Calico Jack's jungle juice.

Is it being stock by Amazon also?

Preorder is up at cocktailkingdom.com

Quite the prodigious-looking tome, can't wait!!!

HERE IS SOME MORE INFO ON THIS NEW BOOK. i CAN NOT WAIT TO GET ONE.

http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/

Yes indeed, an auspicious occasion. Long awaited, long time in the making, this is bound to be another revelation.

I scribbled down a few metaphoric mumblings for it:

-He who shall open Jeff Berry's newest drink bible can unlock the secret of the fountain of youth, for a well spring of forgotten potions will allow him to access history and make it come alive again, in potable and taste-able form. Berry's brand of liquid time travel effects a rejuvenation of the mind and the senses, as 20th Century personae are reborn and spirit-guide you through times and places long passed.-

I am looking forward to the treasure trove of vintage art that always accompanies his musings and mixology formulas.

Looking forward to this after the great preview/symposium at the Hukilau

Sven, great teasers, thank you! Looks like another must-have tome from Jeff Berry. Good encapsulation too - liquid time travel - brilliant!

Here are a few more sample pages to wet the whistle

I posted about it this morning. Mostly what you've seen before, but I think one of the pages is new.

http://professorcocktail.com/tiki/beachbum-berrys-potions-of-the-caribbean/

A nice article:

http://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/2013/12/jeff_beachbum_berry_tackles_50.html

Truly exciting to read that Jeff is finally going to open his own Tiki Bar!

I'm calling for a group road-trip to New Orleans in 2014. Maybe Jeff's bar will be open in time for Mardi Gras? That's always a helluva good time to be in New Orleans!

I've heard that a lease could be signed by the end of the year, which could get things moving quickly.

Check out the latest info, plus a comprehensive preview of the book on The Atomic Grog:

http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/2013/12/07/beachbum-berrys-potions-of-the-caribbean-cruises-back-to-the-birthplace-of-tiki-cocktails/

I cover the new bar, plus lots of other topics including photos and recipes from all of the Bum's symposiums on Caribbean cocktails over the past five years.

Jim, when is YOUR book about the Tiki Cocktail revival coming out !? :wink: You are writing it, as one can see!

Is it just me, or does $40 seem like a lot for this book?

Compared to Jeff's other books yes this seems high, but it's git a significantly higher page count than the earlier books. Wish we didn 't have to pay a hardcover price, but I assume I will get years of enjoyment from this book like I have the others, so I guess it's ok.

The book is actually the only thing I put on my Christmas list. My wife gets really mad when I buy something for myself right before Christmas so I am now waiting impatiently before I get my copy.

On my list too. Waiting patiently...

With regard to the price of the book, we may be helping Jeff crack the nut required to open his new bar in New Orleans. Looking at it that way, it's kinda cool to be able to indirectly help him achieve one of his dreams. It may be a while before we see the price come down. I'm sure the content is stellar and I look forward to owning a copy someday. Must add it to my wish list, I'm in the same boat in that I tend to buy cool stuff for myself at Christmas and deprive friends and family of the opportunity.

C'mon Santa!

I bet it's worth every dime, as are all his books! He's doing the Lord's work.

Amen to that!

The costs of producing a book like this -- which is so lavishly illustrated -- are high. Add to that the years he spent working on it... The man deserves to be paid for his time! I'm happy to spend $40 on his book. Hell, you'd spend that much on a bottle of rum -- and this will last a lot longer! :)

Potions is being published by Cocktail Kingdom, who does lavish re editions of early cocktail guides. The printing quality and binding alone will make this worth it, not counting the fact that the Bum has been putting a huge amount of time into this book for the last 2 1/2 or so years.
This release will match in quality the depth of work thats inside.
Cant wait to get a copy!

Hey guys, I did an interview with Jeff this week about his book...you might dig it

Cocktail Nation 294 Potions of The Caribbean with Jeff Beachbum Berry

Jeff Beachbum Berry has got a brand new book out that will blow your mind about the history of tiki drinks. For those in Los Angeles I have a very cool hang out for you plus a very groovy newsletter to sign up for which I can guarantee you won't regret when it drops into your inbox each week.

http://www.cocktailnation.podbean.com

check out the Exotica and Lounge podcast http://www.cocktailnation.net

[ Edited by: koopkooper 2013-12-14 14:33 ]

Finally had time to listen to the interview: A fun and informative earful, thank you!

On 2013-12-14 14:32, koopkooper wrote:
Hey guys, I did an interview with Jeff this week about his book...you might dig it

Cocktail Nation 294 Potions of The Caribbean with Jeff Beachbum Berry

Jeff Beachbum Berry has got a brand new book out that will blow your mind about the history of tiki drinks. For those in Los Angeles I have a very cool hang out for you plus a very groovy newsletter to sign up for which I can guarantee you won't regret when it drops into your inbox each week.

http://www.cocktailnation.podbean.com

---

check out the Exotica and Lounge podcast http://www.cocktailnation.net

[ Edited by: koopkooper 2013-12-14 14:33 ]

it's here!

oh mah gerd...it is beautiful....Christmas is saved!

My copy arrived on Friday. Unfortunately my flu and/or cold arrived on Thursday night so I've yet to actually dive in and start exploring on account of not being able to smell or taste much of anything. It looks awesome under the Christmas tree however.

With regards to the price of the book - I guess whether $40 is too much for a book of cocktail history and recipes is a subjective (nay, personal) matter. But knowing how much I've learned from and used Jeff's previous books, I never gave it a second thought. His body of work stands on its own merit. Hell I've bought Remixed 3 times and had 2 of those copies spiral bound because I use it so much.

I really can't wait to dig into some of these potions,

kevin

Mine came to me today. I am very excited to check it out.

I hope everyone gets a Berry book for the holidays!

Santa came early to the Hayward household. My collection is now complete! Mahalo to Beachbum Berry and the amazing "Potions of the Caribbean" ....

While Santa was here, I made us a few cocktails: Myrtle Bank Punch, Trader Vic (left) and Don the Beachcomber versions. Two down, 75 to go.

Extra Tikilicious Christmas!

My wonderfum family got me the new Beachbum book -- Wow! It is gorgeous! They also got me the Frankie's Tiki Room Liquid Vacation book and Kahuna Kevin's Why is the Rum Gone vol. 1.

As if that wasn't enough, my wife got me an Enchanted Tiki Room Shag anniversary aloha shirt that I have been droolong over since it came out last year.

Yippee!!

[ Edited by: Sunny&Rummy 2013-12-25 11:52 ]

Mines in the mail. Sounds like it will be wonderful.

Got my copy for Christmas and read the first 120 pages today. Fantastic writing, high quality printing, amazing book. Also got the Navy Grog Ice Cone maker.

Hurricane Hayward, how do you like the Navy Grog Ice Cone maker?

[ Edited by: TikiSan 2013-12-26 10:39 ]

I got the ice cone maker a few months ago and have used it a number of times. It is an interesting addition to my exotic cocktail bar. I find that you need to have very finely crushed ice for it to work well. If the ice is too coarse the cone will fall to pieces before it can be used. For instance ice from the refrigerator ice crusher isn't nearly fine enough. Even ice I crush with my Lewis bags is borderline too coarse. The ice from my approximately $50 Deni electric ice crusher, which makes finely chipped ice, works pretty well. I don't have a snow cone ice machine so I don't know if that ice would be too fine.

The process I use is to pack the cone with finely crushed ice, poke the straw hole, and finally put it in the freezer for an hour before removing it to a Tupperware style container for storage so I can use the cone to start another.

Once placed in a drink it absorbs some of the cocktail by capillary action so the entire cone takes on the hue of the cocktail.

So happy, got this book for Christmas. So far great reading.

I am devouring this book. Have read through page 215 and am trying to pace my reading because I will be depressed when I finish the book and have no more to read. Awesome stuff.

I have made a handful of the recipes so far including:

• Petit Punch Vieux. The recipe here is a little more lime-heavy and also heavy on the cane syrup compared to my standard version of one of my favorite drinks.

• Hotel Nacional Special. white rum, apricot brandy. pineapple and lime juice. Enjoyable.

• Ideal Cocktail. A gin-based cocktail from La Florida. Red and white vermouth, grapefruit and maraschino liquor. Really liked this one.

• Night Cap. Another gin-based cocktail with cognac, cacao, and lime juice. Tasty.

• Voodoo Grog. a mid-1950s Trader Vic menu item with gold Spanish rum and aged rhum agricole, lime juice, grapefruit, honey, egg white, pimento dram, and passionfruit syrup. On paper this looks like it's right in my Tiki wheelhouse, but the recipe made to specs seemed unbalanced and lacking in sweetness. A big slug of grapefruit and lime in this one and only 1/4 oz of honey and 1/2 oz of passionfruit syrup to offset it. I will come back to this one and play around with the ratios a bit.

• Caribe Welcome. Had several of these last night with my wife. Gold PR rum, apricot brandy, lime juice, coconut water and Coco Lopez. Reminiscent of an unblended Coconaut. Very tasty.

• Piña Colada. I made the 1954 recipe Jeff published from the drink's birthplace at the Caribe Hilton. Used cream in addition to light rum. pineapple and Coco Lopez. The original recipe called for 2x as much pineapple juice as the modern recipe and only 1/3 to 1/2 of the crushed ice, so a 15-second blend produced a cold but unfrozen liquid, more like a Trader Vic Bahia than a typical Piña Colada. Made another one with more ice and it was good but I prefer the drink with more Lopez and less pineapple.

Looking forward to hitting all of the La Florida Daiquiri variations and some of the Donn Beach and TV entries in the next couple of days.

Sunny&Rummy: I admire your liver!

On 2013-12-30 11:21, AceExplorer wrote:

Sunny&Rummy: I admire your liver!

She-oot, we're just getting warmed up!

On 2013-12-30 11:21, AceExplorer wrote:

Sunny&Rummy: I admire your liver!

Just a reminder that Don the Beachcomber died of liver cancer. :wink:

On 2013-12-30 11:11, Sunny&Rummy wrote:
I am devouring this book. Have read through page 215 and am trying to pace my reading because I will be depressed when I finish the book and have no more to read. Awesome stuff.
I have made a handful of the recipes so far....

Very ambitious recipe testing Sunny&Rummy!

I'm on page 201 and am loving the book so far. The Bum is an excellent storyteller.

The only drink I've made so far is The Caribbean. It has a very nice photo in the book, but is just an OK drink. I found it to be well-balanced, with all the flavors canceling each other out, resulting in a bland drink. It give it 5 out of 10 stars. I much prefer a strong-flavored cinnamon drink.

Ahh, this is one of the things I love about craft cocktails!

I just spun up The Caribbean. . . and I think it's the best thing I've had so far from the new book. It is certainly the most balanced classic Tiki drink so far, although I have been doing more of the Caribbean-vein and less of the mid-century Tiki-vein drinks so far.

This drink is so perfectly early Donn Beach — Despite the fact that it was a Kon-Tiki menu item. The Beachcomber link is Bob Esmino who was an early Donn bartender before moving to Kon-Tiki, and who helped the Bum decipher all of those secret syrups and spice mixes.

The Caribbean is very similar to the Caribbean Punch from Sippin' Safari, with Coca-Cola subb'd for the Sarsaparilla. It's got the Donn Beach dark rum/Ango/Herbsaint combo and the the Donn Beach flash blend. I think this is the best Donn Beach cocktail not created by Donn.

I used a combination of Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross for my dark Jamaican, and Flor de Caña 4 dark as the PR-style gold. I also made a point of stopping at the store today and getting Mexican sugar cane Coke specifically for this drink and for some Cuba Libres as well. Finally, for the ginger syrup I used Sir Henry's Jamaican ginger beer syrup concentrate which I think really makes an awesome ginger syrup and when cut 1:5 with soda water makes a great Jamaican ginger beer as well.

I agree the photo if this drink in Potions us beautiful. I just served it up Mai-Kai Mutiny style in a big snifter. But I think this one is a winner for sure. TikiSan, what rums did you use? Maybe swapping out there will make a more satisfying drink.

Just got my copy in the mail, and read up to page 41 last night. Really enjoying the read, i enjoy how the Bum strings them words together.
Tikisan and Sunny&Rummy, thanks for the compliment on the Caribbean photo, i had a fun time shooting that one.

On 2013-12-31 07:38, OceaOtica wrote:
Just got my copy in the mail, and read up to page 41 last night. Really enjoying the read, i enjoy how the Bum strings them words together.
Tikisan and Sunny&Rummy, thanks for the compliment on the Caribbean photo, i had a fun time shooting that one.

Man, you have a bunch of awesome photos in there! Now I'll have to go back to Surfin' Safari and Remixed and see which contributions are yours. Nice work!

In addition to The Caribbean, the wife and I road-tested two more drinks from the book last night (both of which are also OceaOtica photo contributions! Something about your photos must really make me thirsty.):

• Queen's Park Hotel Super Cocktail. Trinidad Rum, red vermouth, lime juice, grenadine and Ango, it's a really good Prohibition era shaken & strained cocktail.

• Bird of Paradise Fizz. Had this during Jeff's Hukilau seminar and didn't think much of it, which was surprising because I am a big fan of the Ramos Gin Fizz. Shook it up last night (gin, lime, cream, raspberry syrup, egg white, club soda and orange flower water) and I have completely revised my opinion on this drink. Mass-batched samples served to a couple hundred audience members didn't do this one justice. If you like the Ramos you will certainly dig this one.