Drink of the Day: Day Two

Anyone who’s seen our just-released August issue has probably caught the terrific article by blogger Camper English on the resurgence of tiki drinks. That trend is in full evidence here at Tales of the Cocktail, where the theme of the competition for this year’s official cocktail was planter’s punch. The winner is this creation called Death in the South Pacific, by Evan Martin, bartender at Naga in Bellevue, WA. The best part? The witty garnish that looks like a hangman dangling from the straw. Have a few of these, and you may be ready to join him.

Death in the South Pacific
created by Evan Martin

3/4 oz. Appleton Estate Extra 12 Year Old Rum
3/4 oz. Rhum Clement VSOP
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
1/3 oz. Trader Tiki’s Orgeat Syrup
1/3 oz. Fee Brothers Falernum
3 dashes absinthe
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. Fee Brothers Grenadine
1/2 oz. Cruzan Blackstrap Rum

Add all ingredients except for grenadine and Cruzan Blackstrap in a tall glass and fill with crushed ice. Swizzle the drink well to mix and frost the glass; pour in grenadine. Overfill the glass with crushed ice and pour in Cruzan Blackstrap.

To garnish, take a bamboo skewer and put a brandied cherry through at the very top, followed by 1 pineapple leaf (insert through the middle). Cut off the skin from 1 large orange slice and cut the strip in half; insert the ends through the skewer, so that they hang on opposite sides. Insert the straw through the loop in the bamboo skewer. It should look like a guy hanging off the drink.

Previously
Day One: Black Shrubb

Next
Day Three: Floral Martini