Hotel Nacional Special

Another one from Cuba: the Hotel Nacional Special:

• 3 or 4 (1-inch square) pineapple chunks
• 0.75 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Demerara Syrup
• 0.50 natural apricot liqueur (such as Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur or Gifford Abricot du Roussillon)
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pineapple chunks with the lime juice and syrup. Add the apricot liqueur and the rum, then fill with cracked or cubed ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe.

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Daisy de Santiago

From Cuba comes the Daisy de Santiago:

• 1.0 ounce lime juice
• 1.5 teaspoons SC Demerara Syrup
• 1.0 ounce seltzer
• 0.5 ounce Yellow Chartreuse
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add cracked or cubed ice. Shake and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

This recipe is from the Smuggler’s Cove book but it is adapted from The Gentleman’s Companion: Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask by Charles H. Baker, Jr. Baker was a food and drink writer who traveled the world and told stories. It sounds like my dream job. The Daisy de Santiago he discovered in Cuba, and referred to it as a “lovely thing, indeed”.

Three Dots and A Dash

Morse code for Victory, it’s Three Dots and a Dash:

• 0.50 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce orange juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Honey Syrup
• 0.25 ounce John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
• 0.25 ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 1.50 ounces cane AOC Martinique rhum agricole vieux
• 0.50 ounce blended aged rum
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a drink mix tin. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small agitator cubes. Flash blend and open pour with gated finish into a footed pilsner glass. Garnish with three cherries and a pineapple chunk on a cocktail pick.

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Hurricane

In honor of Mardi Gras, I made a Hurricane:

• 2 ounces lemon juice
• 2 ounces SC Passion Fruit Syrup
• 4 ounces black blended rum

Combine all of the ingredients in a drink mixer tin. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small “agitator” cubes. Flash blend and open pour with a gated finish into a 15 oz. hurricane glass. Garnish with a wind-ravaged cocktail umbrella speared into a lemon wedge.

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Golden Gun

Courtesy of the Cocktail Wonk, it’s the Golden Gun:

• 0.75 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce grapefruit juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Demerara Syrup
• 0.50 ounce natural apricot liqueur (such as Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur or Gifford Abricot du Roussillon)
• 1.00 ounce blended aged rum
• 1.00 ounce blended lightly aged rum
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Fill a Collins or highball glass with cracked or cubed ice. Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with cracked or cubed ice. Shake and strain into the glass. Your choice of garnish.

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Planter’s Punch

From Smuggler’s Cove comes Planter’s Punch:

• 1.00 ounce lime juice
• 0.75 ounce SC Demerara Syrup
• 0.25 ounce St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram
• 3.00 ounces blended aged rum (Jamaica)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a drink mixer tin with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 “agitator” cubes. Flash blend and then open pour with a gated finish into a Collins or highball glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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SC Demerara Syrup

A staple in many of the Smuggler’s Cove drinks:

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup demerara sugar
• 3 cups granulated sugar

Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add the demerara sugar and stir vigorously with a whisk (or use an immersion blender) until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute (the water should become clear). Add the granulated sugar and stir vigorously until dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool.

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