Mixology Monday Cocktail: Alone, Bitter at the Beach

17 December 2012

36 Comments

Alone, Bitter at the Beach

Alone, Bitter at the Beach

mxmologo-2It’s time for Mixology Monday, and if you couldn’t guess already, this month’s theme is “Humbug”. Firstly we want to thank JFL at Rated R Cocktails for hosting this month and Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for reviving Mixology Monday. Now lets get to the theme:

Lets face it the holidays suck, yeah I said it. You put yourself in debt buying crap people will have forgotten about in a month. You drive around like a jackass to see people you don’t even like, or worse they freeload in your house. Your subjected to annoying music, and utterly fake, forced kindness and joy. Plus if you work retail your pretty much in hell, so don’t we all deserve a good stiff drink? So for this Mixology Monday unleash your inner Grinch. Mix drinks in the spirit of Anti-Christmas. They can be really bitter and amaro filled. They filled with enough booze to make you pass out in a tinsel covered Scrooge heap. They could be a traditional holiday drink turned on it’s ear. Or they could be a tribute to your favorite holiday villain. If you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa then you still suffer through the holidays, so feel free to join in with your Anti-Holiday drink as well. Whatever it is add a hearty “Humbug!” and make your drink personify everything annoying or fake about the holidays.

 humbug6While “some people” here at the farm have similar crabby feelings about the holidays, some of us don’t (ahem), but we both immediately said “tiki” when we thought of “anti-Christmas” cocktails. And when you are in a long holiday line at the store and the items won’t scan, and the kids are starting to squirm, and nobody can find the manager, and the next person in line is sneezing on you and yapping about their sex life on the phone, and and now you will be late for dinner, and you just can’t listen to one more fu…..umm, you need a trip to the beach. And, if anything, a tiki drink is a trip to a beach. Far, far away…maybe by yourself.

humbug3So now that we had a direction, we started in on our “anti-Christmas” cocktail. The Alone, Bitter at the Beach combines, light rum, golden rum, aged Jamaican rum and Lemon Hart 151 rum with lime juice, pineapple juice, passion fruit syrup, a dash of absinthe and a big dose of Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters over crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wheel and the most cutesy, annoying holiday-themed item you can find. The Alone, Bitter at the Beach starts with pleasant notes of rum and citrus then you get the sweet / tart kick of the passion fruit and some heat from the booze. Standard tiki. But on the finish you get the herbal and anise flavors of the absinthe and a dry, almost tannic note of the hopped grapefruit bitters. We think the Alone, Bitter at the Beach fits the holiday season perfectly- too much good stuff that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth (literally and figuratively) and a bit of a headache.

humbug1

Our kind of reindeer.

How did we get here? We stared with the Zombie as a template and then made sure to tune it to match the theme. Boozy? Oh yes. We took one of the booziest cocktails and added another ounce of aged Jamaican rum. Is that too much? Probably, but it is the holiday season, after all. Bitter? Medicinal? Well the absinthe and grapefruit bitters took care of that (and many tiki drinks do include grapefruit and absinthe, so we aren’t too far off the reservation). And we made sure to keep Falernum and allspice liqueur out of the drink- no pleasant holiday spices allowed. The garnish and cocktail napkin were our own special touches. Now if we only had a Grinch mug……

humbugAlone, Bitter at the Beach:

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz. light rum (El Dorado)
  • 1 oz. gold rum (El Dorado)
  • 1 oz. aged Jamaican rum (Appleton 12 yr.)
  • 1 oz. Lemon Hart 151
  • 1 oz. lime juice
  • 1 oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 oz. passion fruit syrup
  • 2 dashes absinthe
  • 6 dashes grapefruit bitters (Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit)
  • Lime wheel, for garnish
  • Christmas ornament, for garnish (optional)

Assemble:

  1. Place all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a large glass or tiki mug filled with crushed ice. Top with more ice if needed. Garnish with a lime wheel and something holiday-themed and overly cheerful. Serve with a loud “harumph!” or “humbug!”.
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36 thoughts on “Mixology Monday Cocktail: Alone, Bitter at the Beach”

  2. That drink looks like it sucks. Worst post ever. Where’d you get that dumb snowman in that cocktail? Lead paint? Probably. And your blog is snowing, which leads me to believe all this humbug-crap is merely an act, because who makes their blog snow if they’re not at least a little into the whole thing? Sheesh. Where did I leave my ear plugs? You people.

    Reply

    • Ha! Like we said, some of like the holidays some don’t. But we will grind up some lead-ridden toys and add their dust to the rim of the glass. That will fit the theme.

      Blame WordPress for the snow… 😉

      Reply

  3. sighhhh delicious drink i’d love to have while sitting on the edge of the ocean in the Dominican Republic. What a life that would be xD

    Reply

  4. I adore this! Not only is it our lifeblood tiki but you used all our favorite rums and absinthe. This may be kissing up to the host but I don’t care, I love it, great work! We’re so happy you entered. You were on the list of people I was really hoping to see jump on board!

    Reply

    • Thanks! We know you like tiki, but we are not kissing up (we swear… well, maybe a little). But thanks again for hosting- great fun.

      FWIW- a lighter hand with the Hopped Grapefruit bitters gives a nice clean finish to the drink. If you get an overly sweet / cloying note on some drinks- this may help w/out messing with the overall balance.

      Reply

  7. I’m not feeling very “Grinchy” this year. I am refusing to go down that path…do you think I can still enjoy this drink? Three types of rum AND absinthe…I already know I will love this! 🙂

    Reply

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  11. Some grilled pineapple would be perfect for this drink: sliced pineapple (thick slices) soaked in coconut cream seasoned with salt and paprika. 4 minutes on a hot grill (2 mins per side) and you’ll have a little side dish to keep you drinking!

    Reply

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