It’s officially fall and soon the dark, despondant miasma of daylight savings will descend upon us. Years ago we collectively voted against it, and yet, here it comes again. In this pre-apocalyptic wasteland/utopia we call Los Angeles things are a little different from the rest of the country, at least in terms of fruits and vegetables. It most places, the end of October signals a shut down in farmers markets until at least May. Sad yes. Here, however, we have all sorts of cool things to play with. It’s the most interesting and challenging part of the year in terms of cocktail design because of what is available. The usual culprits are difficult to toy with and always have been. I’m talking ’bout apples, pears, Asian pears, persimmons, the occasional squash. Tough customers. It’s a damn good thing there’s also easy ones like yuzu (yes!), and guava, sweet guava.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Guava is one piece of the holy trinity of tiki-dom. Four tiki gods, three fruits. The other two being pineapple and passionfruit. Why you ask? Because they are their own thing and each quite odd in their own way. Guava is from a tree and the flower resembles something off world, maybe deserving of an od school Star Trek episode.

Passionfruit is a weird, mercurial vine also with an alien looking flower and pineapple? Well, it grows underground like a tuber. The most unique bit about all three, however, is that they all taste like themselves. What do I mean? Some/most other tropical fruits taste or are compared in how they taste to other fruits. Case in point: cherimoya. It tastes a bit like guava and banana. No one in their right mind says it tastes like cherimoya. Sapote, same thing.

Anyway, guava. It originated here in the Americas, more specifically Mexico and Central America but it has been found to be cultivated in several Caribbean islands and also Peru. It is now grown everywhere and comes in both pink, yellow, and white colors. Here in Southern California it grows everywhere. If you know anyone with a backyard it’s likely they have a lot of guava.

Like its brethren in the holy tiki trinity, it is also a bit of a pain to prep but have no worries, your friendly neighborhood Aging Bartender is here to help you. Start by cutting the ends off, then peel, then cut in half, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon. You’ll be left with a meager amount of flesh but it is very delicious, a little grainy in texture and oh so fragrant. During the time guava is available at the farmer’s market its pungent scent wafts through the farmer’s market stalls like a siren song for bartenders.

Instead o throwing the scraps into the bin, put them in a jar with your favorite white rum (mine is Hamilton White ‘Stache) and wait. You can also make great tepache with the scraps. I have some going right now and I’ll post it if my kids haven’t killed me yet.

The inspiration for the drink, once again, comes from the band Ween. There’s a little ditty off their unreal album, Chocolate and Cheese from 1994. Yeesh, yes, 30 years ago. Boy oh boy. We used to crank this at a bar I used to attend. The good old days. Everyone would sing along. The Clinton years where everything seemed like it would always be fantastic. We played pool and drank beer and had no idea what was just around the corner. This was Burlington, Vermont, mind you. A place where Ween and Phish were very popular. Jam bands in general seemed to do quite well. A town of 40,000 with about 25% of that being college kids. A view of Lake Champlain from the hill and majestic, sweaty summer nights.

Track #11, Joppa Road seems to personify those times. A tune about being with your girl in a car and going for a nice drive in a convertible on a country stretch, the wind flowing, no worries at all.

Check it out for yourself.

Joppa Road

1.5 oz. White Chocolate Washed Tequila

1 oz. Dolin Blanc

.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. Guava Syrup

.5 oz. Funky Oaxaca Pot Still Rum

.25 oz. Whey Syrup

.25 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Shake, strain onto BFR, give a spritz of blackstrap if you’re so inclined.

Your AI generated image for this post, #408, 10/31/24