Yeah the original version of this bevvie, originally posted here, never made it off the chopping block and onto the menu. Not sure why. I get nervous sometimes and think things aren’t good when they are and vice versa. Sometimes I taste something and like it then the next day it’s ho hum, hum drum, whatever, or I get nervous about putting it on. I’m also a bit confused as to why I repeated the same name again without knowing. Chalk it up to dad brain I guess. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends for some time now, but in the words of the great Neil Young, “It’s better to burn out, than to fade away.” Boy, sometimes I think it’s probably better to just do what Mr. Hennelly does over at Kato and name cocktails after the original. It takes a lot of the workload and annoyance out of the process. I hemmed and hawed over this at 3:30 yesterday. I wanted to name it Mansplain but the powers that be wouldn’t allow such genius to blossom. I guess the term is offensive now? I had no idea. I thought it just meant…Well…Mansplaining…

I think about cocktail names a lot actually, more than I should. You know, the whole necessary stupidity of them and how certain bars are able to find their way around it. Another way would be to just name drinks after the main ingredient like they do over at Mace in New York (yes another reference to the great Nico de Soto). I really like that idea. In an alternate universe our seasonal menu would read like this:

Rhubarb

Dragonfruit

Passionfruit

Sugar Cube Melon

Corn

I like this…but it’s been used and I’ve got to say that going to a restaurant and saying to the waiter “I’ll have the corn,” instead of saying “I’ll have the Corn Identity” is a much different thing. Corn Identity gives us a bit of a chuckle when we say it because we’re aware of the origin, and we can recognize it’s a bit clever and that’s the single hardest part about naming a damn cocktail–trying to be clever and cheeky without being overly punny and annoying. It’s no wonder the true artists stay away from doing it.

Then again, Nico has some outrageously named stuff like We All Scream for Ice Cream, Three Sheets to the Wind, and The Sixth Sick Sheik’s Sixth Sheep’s Sick. I mean…

This is another thoughtful usage drink where we attempt to utilize all the wonder and glory the ingredient is able to offer. Once the passionfruit syrup is made with the innards, we cook them to make another type of syrup and reuse the husks a second time to make a damn fine sort of “vermouth” with Beaujolais, pisco, and dehydrated orange slices. We’ve been doing stuff like this more and more as of late to great success. A lot of it depends upon the ingredients we use. Stonefruit season this year really set it all off and now we have more noyaux than you can shake a stick at. Once we get to other stuff down the seasonal line, it’ll be different. I’m also a bit ashamed I didn’t have the energy this summer to really go to town on all the melon scraps. Next year, kiddos.

So this is a Jungle Bird variation with no pineapple. Yeah, pineapple is sort of against the rules and also a big pain if you’re using fresh. Let’s not even get into finding ways to utilize the heavy amount of scraps…Usually tepache…Which is in itself a double edged sword. With pineapples, you’ve also got to store them, make sure they’re ripe, and let’s face it, like a good amount of fruit out there, the organic versions just aren’t as good as the heavily sprayed ones. Fortunately, the passionfruit stands in…Ish…Let’s get to the recipe before I lose steam…

Voodoo Economics

1 oz. Jamaican Rum

.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Grapefruit Juice

.5 oz. Passionfruit Syrup

.5 oz. Passionfruit “Vermouth”

.5 oz. Aperitivo

.5 oz. Blackstrap Rum

.5 oz. White Rum

I should have named this one after an astrological phenomenon, like Partial Eclipse or Pisces Blues. There’s always next time.

I haven’t written anything of substance in almost a year. I finished the first draft of a a really out there and massive sci-fi novel, Chiaroscuro, last year around this time, then went right into writing the cocktail book and then started the blog in January. I think I’m chomping at the bit to write yet another sci-fi book that will never get published (I’ve somehow written three since June, 2020 and one really terrible fiction novel). Yeah, maybe this last rejection is getting to me a bit. The imposter syndrome thing, telling myself I’ll be a bartender the rest of my life. You know, some woe is me shit that never does anyone a bit of good. I haven’t put Chiaroscuro out into the world at all. It’s really fucking weird but also damn good in my opinion. Anyway, it’s time to go and do some day off chores. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, the water place, Larchmont Farmer’s Market, the bank, measure the lights in unit #102, go to Home Depot to pick up some fluorescent light tubes for unit #106, hopefully repot one of my snake plants, make chicken soup for my sick sister in law…