Nihil Utopia

The State of the Hi-Fi

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 19:54:00 +0000

So I need a new turntable or I need to have the one I've got repaired. Either way listening to my records is on hiatus. In the meantime I may take a proper inventory of all my music (across many formats) and listen to everything!

Stay tuned

A_A DISKORDANT

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 02:46:00 +0000

Hello!

It's been a while. I'm going to listen to all my albums in alphabetical order (well, mostly) and I invite you to come along for the journey.

We begin with A_A which is a live performance project of Satoshi Tomiie and Nao Gunji and is fully called Abstract Architecture. Their album Diskordant is on the label Artificial Owl Recordings. A recording of a performance at the Fridman Gallery in Manhattan.

It begins with, perhaps, sound effects that then evolve into ambient dub. Side one is not exactly chill but not exactly bombastic either. The performance gets more rhythmic, not really busier or intense, on side two. You could maybe dance to it but more likely just chill out. Then ultimately the only aural indication that it's a live recording occurs: crowd applause at the end of side two. But wait! There's a sneaky locked groove before the runout and the crowd can cheer infinitely, if you so choose.

Just lovely!

The Sepulchre

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:17:00 +0000

Yes, three parts. The first is The Sepulchre. To enter you must pass:

The Gate

Half Remembered Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 19:14:00 +0000

It comes to you in fragments. The first you can recall is a womanly figure in a robe. She had a staff or something. Her robe is purple. She was guarding something? A house! She was gurading a house. You were not permitted to enter the house... or were you?

Codicil by Fatal Obelisk

Codicil

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 16:59:00 +0000

There are three parts:

PART ONE:❄︎♒︎♏︎ 💧︎♏︎◻︎◆︎●︎♍︎♒︎❒︎♏︎

PART TWO: ❄︎♒︎♏︎ ☼︎♓︎⧫︎◆︎♋︎●︎

PART THREE: ❄︎♒︎♏︎ ☞︎□︎❒︎♌︎♓︎♎︎♎︎♏︎■︎ ☟︎□︎◆︎⬧︎♏︎ Codicil by Fatal Obelisk

Disquiet Junto 657

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 21:08:00 +0000

FatalObelisk · Hold Me, Lift Me, Drop Me. (disquiet0657)

Funeral Doom

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 18:38:00 +0000

I've always preferred the term Acid Rock over Metal (or any of its variants) but I'll play along and tag my music with fitting categories.

Oaths & Obligations by Fatal Obelisk

Enjoy!

Ouroboros

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 18:36:00 +0000

I had this grand idea that didn't quite come to fruition but the result is great to dance to!

Can Your Ouroboros Do The Lemniscate by Fatal Obelisk

Music n Schtuff

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 18:33:00 +0000

So, if you're so inclined you can find some of my music on soundcloud... but you can also find it on Bandcamp!

It Is The New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:51:00 +0000

Hello

Let me clear up the dust and put away the papers. Have a seat. I said I'd be back blogging in the new year and it is that. It's March but whatevs...

Today I will be mixing up the Western Sour and possibly the Headhunter. I won't be blogging about them though, not yet.

We left off with the Port Light, more or less. Since then I've revisited the Astro Aku Aku and I've made Don's Own Planter's, Don's Daiquiri, and the Coronado Luau Special. Nothing I write can outdo what Kaiser Penguin once had to say about the Coronado Luau Special. All I can add is that fresh squeezed orange juice makes a world of difference! I had intended to really drink in the past and use mass produced artificial sour mix but instead I've made it with homemade and with (the kinda bougie) PC sour mix. It's a good drink and maybe more complex than I remembered.

The "Don's" drinks are also good and make use of honey syrup rather than liquid honey. Interesting. The daiquiri I can take or leave but the Planter's I've made several times and really enjoy. The choice of honey and choice of rum really influence the experience and I think this is a sign of a good drink. A showcase rather than just something vaguely tropical.

So that's where we're at. This may be my last post on blogger... we'll see. I'm going to keep making drinks and posting about them. I'm just going to do it elsewhere. Stay tuned, or not.

Grog Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 20:13:00 +0000

When last I posted it was about La Florida. I subsequently made a Papa Dobles and while I contemplated how to present that drink to you - you see, It isn't an indexed drink in Beachbum Berry's Grog Log it is merely a footnote on page 47 with inexact measurements - I continued making drinks and taking photos and writing notes. Then I moved on to drinks from Intoxica! and other sources and because of how behind I'd gotten with Grog Blogging I left it alone. That changes today! If you'd like to see photos of drinks please check out my Flickr. The photos go until Astro Aku Aku. The notes go a little farther (or is it further?).

I'll tell you this much about the Port Light: as written in Grog Log it's too sweet and overpowers the bourbon. The same is true of the Scotch version, the Starboard Light. I had wanted to enjoy both these drinks and found them disappointing. My disappointment coupled with my quandary about the Papa Dobles may be why dust has settled on my random access journey through Grog Log. Anyway I have now "checked off" but will not blog about: Outrigger (which is a shame just for topographical reasons within the version I have of Grog Log), Jasper's Jamaican, Red Tide, Captain's Grog, Pago Pago, Planter's Punch, Pieces Of Eight, Oceanic Punch, Astro Aku Aku, Port Light. Some of these drinks I enjoyed and some I did not. Regardless I haven't made any of them a second time. Wait...

That's a lie!

I made the Port Light more than once because I thought for sure I'd measured wrong. Sadly I had not and my bourbon was obfuscated.

We'll pick it up again in the new year with Don's Own Planter's.

Cheers!

Be well

La Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 04:30:00 +0000

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for rum and vermouth and grenadine. In fact the Sloppy Joe may just have been my stepping stone to discovering tiki drinks. It was many years ago and it's a little hazy... Another such drink, also from Cuba, is La Florida. It's like the Art Deco version of a Sloppy Joe ;)

La Florida

1oz lime juice

½oz Italian vermouth

¼oz creme de cacao

tsp curacao

tsp grenadine

1 ounce light PR rum (Havana Club)

Shake, strain, twist

This is delicous! I need to make this more often.

Cheers!

Castaway

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 04:30:00 +0000

First a confession. I had it in my head that Kahlua is around 35%abv and therefore thought Kraken Black Roast would be a straight substitution. Flavour wise I think this sub is fine. Proof wise maybe not so much. It turns out that Kahlua isn't even to 20%abv itt once was and is now 16%abv. How 'bout that?

I found this drink to be like a simplified Mr Bali Hai. At first bracing and then the lovely combo of pineapple and coffee. Later on vague hints of magic and rum emerge. A sweet velvety drink that slowly made me tipsy.

Castaway

3 oz pineapple juice

¾ oz Kahlua*

1½ gold Jamaican rum

Shake with ice. Strain into a Pilsner glass filled with crushed ice

So about that "gold" rum... that's not really how we classify rum these days, if we can help it. I've made enough drinks over the years and drank enough rum to know what is meant in the context of this recipe, I think. A moderately aged uncoloured Jamaican rum does just fine. You may find you prefer one particular bottling over another. I'm sure that's the case for me for some drinks yet to come. The Castaway I think is really more about coffee and pineapple with a bit of rum to fortify. If you, like me, are going to use Kraken instead of Kahlua maybe fortification isn't really required. Who's to say?

Cheers!

Be Well

Hawaii Kai Treasure

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 00:16:00 +0000

Ahoy! Pardon my absence. I've still been drinking, fear not. Again we have a drink calling for honey as opposed to honey mix/syrup. There is also a call for gardenia blossom as a garnish. We have a gardenia but it isn't in bloom. C'est la vie. I bought a silk flower

Hawaii Kai Treasure

2 oz lime juice

1 oz grapefruit juice

½ oz half & half

½ oz honey

½ oz orgeat

½ oz curaçao*

1½ oz light Puerto Rican rum**

Heat honey until liquid. Whip with all other ingredients and 1 cup crushed ice in a blender. Pour into a ~~grapefruit supreme glass or~~ tiki bowl. Garnish with gardenia.

from Grog Log pg 39

*Maxime Trijol Orange Liqueur

**Havana Club 3 Años

My notes are thus: Delicious and creamy. The Maxime Trijol really comes through. Tart. Disappeared in a hurry.

This was a fun and interesting drink but the rum was overshadowed. Ah well, I got to drink out of a cool bowl!

So About That Falernum...

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 19:21:00 +0000

Ah, the metric system. We kinda-sorta use it here in Canada. On the back label of the Fabbri Falernum is a recipe for a Falernum Mai Tai. The recipe is metric. The recipe is in Italian. There are some English instructions as well on the back label but not a recipe per se. Instead there is merely a guideline of how much falernum to use as a ratio to the rest of the cocktail. Odd. Oh well.

When we do use metric in Canada, specifically for liquid volumes, we only ever use litres or millilitres. There may be exceptions in medicine and industry but for everyday use it is the case. The Fabbri recipe is of course in centilitres which seems quite common in Europe. I'm sure I've had some 70cL bottles of spirits. Rather than converting to ounces I made this recipe as is, in a Canadian fashion. Anyway, on to the recipe:

Falernum Mai Tai

10 mL lime juice

15 mL falernum

15 mL orange curacao

20 mL dark rum

40 mL white rum

garnish: lime zest & dusting of cinnamon

I used Havana Club 3 Años and Bacardi Black. This is an alright drink. If I was served this as a "Mai Tai" I would gladly drink it and enjoy it and then order something else if I was looking for a second drink. That's life.

Outside of this cocktail though I've been quite impressed by this Falernum. I had low expectations and my expectations were pleasantly exceeded. When I tried the syrup on its own it came across as a thick, subdued orzata with a hint of undefined spice. Once mixed into various cocktails I've found I enjoy some of the cocktails more than I did with my previous falernums and that the spice component of the cocktail is elevated. This is the case even when the amount of falernum is small, but it's not universal. Ah, the alchemy of mixology.

So what were my previous falernums? I used to always make my own but haven't for a while. Prior to the Fabbri I was (and still am) using Shameful Tiki Room Falernum. Before that was Barcarola (for which I also had low to mid expectations) when I had run out of homemade and wanted a cheap replacement in a hurry. I had intended, when I first bought the Fabbri, to present my notes and thoughts about each falernum I've made or bought. I no longer feel inclined to do this. Unlike the various orgeats and orzatas I've bought or made over the years there is no clear "winner" to me. Rather in an ideal setup and if the budget allows I'd have all these falernums available and possibly more!

Just as not every rum is right for every cocktail not every falernum is right, for me, for every cocktail.

Stay tuned?

Painkiller

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 16:30:00 +0000

First of all let's present the recipe:

Painkiller

4 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

1 oz Coco Lopez cream of coconut

2 oz 95⁰ Pusser's rum

powdered cinnamon

ground nutmeg

Blend without ice and pour into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Top with nutmeg and cinnamon.

I may have blended with ice. I also omitted the other garnish mentioned in Grog Log so have left them out of my recipe.

The first stumbling block here is the rum. Pusser's is available in Ontario but not 47.5%abv. The bottle I currently have open is 40% (This is interesting as the bottles I bought a couple months ago were 42%. 42% I believe is the current expression). Did my nearest lickbo open a previously collecting dust case? Who's to say.

The second stumbling block is the legal one. Pusser's have trademarked "Painkiller" so making the drink with a different rum makes it legally something else. This isn't particularly a problem if you're just mixing at home but may cause problems for bars and... published recipes.

What's a fella to do? Make the cocktail twice is what. Once with Pusser's 80⁰ (which to my recollection tastes the same as the newer 84⁰ expression) and once with 95.2⁰ Plantation Guyana 2008.

Is it worth making with the expensive bottle of Plantation? I don't think so. Both versions were good but not substantially different. It's great and tasty with (whichever bottle of) Pusser's (you've got)! A creamy sweet "boat-drink" that disappears in a hurry. Save the other rums for sipping and enjoy this pasteis de nata washed down with a Julius.

Cheers!

151 Swizzle

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 01:05:00 +0000

Similar to the Kapu-Kai but stronger and from the 1940s is the:

151 Swizzle

dash Angostura bitters

⅛ tsp Pernod*

½ oz lime juice

½ oz simple syrup

1½ oz 151 Demerara rum

Blend with crushed ice. Pour into a steel swizzle cup half filled with crushed ice. Top with more crushed ice. Top with ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Garnish with mint or a cinnamon stick or a lime wheel or... I don't know I was really drunk at the time.

adapted from pg 45 Beachbum Berry's Grog Log

A nutmeg assault coupled with spicy alcohol heat. Eventually melting away to a dilute finish (as a proper punch ought to) with hints of caramel and spice along the way. Changing up to a different rum I found less complexity but more cohesion. Perhaps "one note" when made with Gosling's 151 but still the astringency was tempered with caramel. Not a refresher or a guzzler but rather a contemplative sipper.. that begs another round.

*I used Ricard because.. I'm like that.

Cheers!

Kapu-Kai

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:45:00 +0000

Another drink in a coupe, eh? I'm game!

Kapu-Kai

½ oz lime juice

½ oz sugar syrup

1 oz Demerara 151

Shake with ice; strain into a cocktail glass.

From Beachbum Berry's Grog Log pg 45

My notes are quite sparse but do mention "caramel", "sweet daiquiri", "very tasty", "[another] excellent demerara 151 showcase"

And such it is. Another delicious conveyance of 151. Just enough going on to take away the bite or edge but not so much as to disguise the rum.

Beachbum Berry's Grog Log invites us, "if [we]'ve still got [our] sealegs" to try next the 151 Swizzle.

Let's!

Rum Barrel

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:30:00 +0000

Ah, the Rum Barrel. I have a collection of mugs but a barrel mug is not among them. There is a very small one that can hold toothpicks or parasols or swords but certainly not a drink. I suspect one reason I've never bothered to get a barrel mug is that most of the time I'm disappointed by Rum Barrels. I nearly always find them too juice forward and not very rummy. Maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe the name throws me off. There are some exceptions but, sadly, this is not one of them. Anyway here's the recipe

Rum Barrel

¾ oz lime juice

¾ oz orange juice

¾ oz pineapple juice

¾ oz Alize liqueur

¾ oz simple syrup

¾ oz dark Jamaican rum

¾ oz Bacardi 151*

Shake with ice and pour into a ceramic ~~barrel~~ mug.

Adapted from Beachbum Berry's Grog Log pg 71

I have a well stocked bar but Alize is not something I had. I've now got a bottle and IIRC it will be used again as I go through the Grog Log. I also have no Bacardi 151. As I understand it only dusties can be currently found. There are other options for Puerto Rican 151 but not in this jurisdiction. Perhaps there's a bottle of Bacardi 151 in my stash? No. There is a bottle of St Vincent Sunset...

So armed with a bottle of Sunset, a bottle of Plantation 3 Star (which is flavourful but not really the appropriate choice), and knowledge of how to use a Pearson's Square I rectified my own 151.

It's wonderful! Easier to drink than Sunset, more macho then 3 Star, wonderful! Into a drink it went... and then it disappeared.

The Rum Barrel was juicy and tart but not boozy. More interesting than the Rum Lift and Never Say Die but I'd rather have a Bahama Mama.

<>shrug</>

It's got to be me and my reaction to the name. I expect a rum forward experience like a Navy Grog or a Jet Pilot instead of the juicy refreshment this is. If a Cheif Lapu Lapu had rum in it's name I'd probably have similar preconceived expectations. Ah, well...

...at least I got to use of my Salty Sea Dog mug!

Cheers!

Hurricane

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 16:30:00 +0000

I neglected to make notes when I made my Hurricane. Rumdood, KP, and Fred Yarm all give excellent descriptions of the drink. There isn't really much I can add to the tale. It's tart, it's boozy, it's more likely to be made with fassionola when I make one at home... a story for another day.

Hurricane

2 oz lemon juice

2 oz passion fruit syrup

4 oz dark Jamaican rum

Mix with ice, pour into a Hurricane glass

Cheers!

Rum Lift

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 16:30:00 +0000

Here we have perhaps the neglected middle child of tiki drinks. Not to be found in TotalTiki. Seldom discussed anywhere recipes are shared. This supposed hangover cure from the late sixties is not something I'm likely to make again. There are hints that the Tonga Hut version contains honey. Who's to say?

Rum Lift

dash Angostura

2 oz orange juice

½ oz pineapple juice

¼ oz lime juice

1½ oz dark Jamaican rum

Shake with ice. Pour into a tall glass.

Garnish: Maraschino cherry & pineapple spear

from Beachbum Berry's Grog Log pg 72

I didn't really enjoy this. I may make it again to see if my opinion changes... but I doubt I'll get around to that. My notes were: "juice, but not juicy; a little dry. an evening extender perhaps. ultimately the garnish was more flavourful and interesting."

Cheers!

Navy Grog

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 00:11:00 +0000

Usually I prefer some spice in my Navy Grog in the form of allspice liqueur or syrup. I think this is because I use honey mix when making a honeyed grog. Most recipe sources for this type of Navy Grog call for honey mix (in fact the recipe that accompanies an Ice Cone Kit even calls for it). In Grog Log it is not the mix but merely heated 'til liquid honey which is specified, much like in the Never Say Die. There are further ~~interesting~~ unusual instructions for the Navy Grog, to wit:

"Heat honey until liquid, then mix with juices in a blender. Stir in rums and soda."

Stir in the rums and soda, eh?

This is what I've done. In fact I've dispensed with the blender altogether. I'll add my method in the recipe.

NAVY GROG

¾ lime juice

¾ grapefruit juice

¾ honey

1 light Puerto Rican rum

1 dark Jamaican rum

1 Demerara rum

1 chilled club soda

In a mixing tin combine honey and juices to incorporate them. (Whisk together or stir with a spoon, chopstick, etc). Stir in rums and soda. Pour into a DOF filled with crushed ice. Serve with a rock candy stick. Adapted from pg 53 Beachbum Berry's Grog Log.

The candy stick garnish is perhaps a story for another day... perhaps, even, to be told by someone else.

As I mentioned I usually like more spice in my Navy Grog but this full honey version (in similar fashion to the full honey Never Say Die) was much more flavourful than I've had in the past. Delicious! I felt it required a second tasting (there may have also been a third) with an ice cone. If you're so inclined you can make an ice cone using a pilsner glass. There's a great tutorial complete with wonderful drawings at Dr Bamboo! Failing that you can also order the Cocktail Kingdom official Beachbum Berry stainless steel version.

When served with the cone the drink is equally as flavourful. I think my choices of rums* may have played a roll as well as the Clovermead goldenrod honey. Who's to say? I think this may become the summer of the Navy Grog. Even though I've got a long way to go through the Grog Log periodic visits of which rums work best for me in a Navy Grog can't be such a bad thing.

Cheers!

Be well

*Plantation 3 Star, Myers's, Pusser's

Gone The Beachcomber

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 02:33:00 +0000

I've made the Demerara Dry Float quite often, the version found in the Smuggler's Cove book that is, and it's always enjoyable. On page 38 of Beachbum Berry's Grog Log is "[his] version of the Demerara Dry Float": the Gone The Beachcomber. So I mixed one up... completely disregarding that it's meant to be served up!

So I gave it another go and found it to be a very smooth way to deliver 151 into one's mouth. Haha! After the first few sips it settles into... nougat? marshmallow? I don't know but there is something that happens when one combines passionfruit with maraschino that is reminiscent of some sort of confection. Delicious! A complex "tiki" sour that packs a punch. I anticipate I'll be adding this to the house repertoire.

Gone The Beachcomber

1 lime juice

¼ lemon juice

½ passion fruit syrup

¼ Maraschino liqueur

¼ sugar syrup

1 Demerara rum

¼ 151 Demerara rum (for float)

Shake everything except 151 with ice; strain in to a 4 oz cocktail glass; float 151

pg 38 Beachbum Berry's Grog Log

I've had the Grog Log book for quite a while but I don't refer to it often. There are several drinks in it that I've had and several I make regularly. Most of those recipes I get from the TotalTiki+ or other sources. I dusted off my copy of Grog Log recently and thought about blogging all the drinks in it. I remember Kaiser Penguin attempting such a thing with Remixed and then petering out. I had a vague recollection of another blogger going through the Grog Log and then I remembered it was Mountain Of Crushed Ice. Unfortunately Tiare never completed Blogging The Grog Log, at least as far as I can tell.

In my efforts to find the Grog Blog, so to speak, I discovered that others before me have done it... sort of. There is a great resource at Modern Tiki Lounge that's equally useful if you're regularly going to the Tonga Hut or if you're just mixing at home. There is also The Grog Blog that inexplicably posits that Gone The Beachcomber isn't in any of Jeff Berry's books. Odd. Ah well, you and I know ~~different~~ better.

Cheers!

__-)0)

Never Say Die

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 23:11:00 +0000

I have made this drink in the past. It always seemed to me like 5 Alive with booze. I had overlooked something, however. I read honey in the recipe and immediately reached for honey mix. In fact this is what you will find called for in most versions of this recipe... even in the Tiki+ app and other reliable sources. I think this is one of those drinks for which honey mix is great if you're bartending in a busy place but otherwise if you're onesing and twosing at home forget the mix and use honey! The directions say to, "Heat honey until liquid.." but in the current heat wave I think room temp honey is just fine.

Speaking of honey mix, did you know you can make it without heat? Just whisk or stir your honey and water and you will ende up with honey mix. Amazing, I know! I did just this with orange juice standing in for water. ;)

Never Say Die

1 dash Ango

0.50 oz lime juice

0.50 oz orange juice

0.50 oz grapefruit juice

0.25 oz (unsweetened) pineapple juice

0.50 oz honey

1 oz Barbados rum

0.50 oz light Puerto Rican rum

0.50 oz dark Jamaican rum

Heat honey until liquid, then blend with all other ingredients with 4 oz crushed ice for 5 seconds. Pour into a small ~~wine goblet,~~ ~~Pearl Diver~~, Dunbar Aramis tumbler.

by Don the Beachcomber. pg 54 Grog Log

Honey, not honey mix. Ahhh, proper.... still not really my bag though.

Ancient Mariner

noreply@blogger.com (Dagreb) — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 00:57:00 +0000

I don't too often make this drink although I've had it several times. I think the small amount of allspice is what scares me off. I usually go with an actual grog when I want a grog.... or I skim through recipes I've collected over the years that call for a greater amount of spice, all or otherwise. Let the spice flow!

Ancient Mariner*

0.75 oz lime juice

0.50 oz grapefruit juice

0.50 oz simple syrup

0.25 oz allspice liqueur

1 oz dark Jamaican rum

1 oz Demerara rum

Maybe this drink isn't really about this spice after all? Maybe it is more like a Mai Tai as Tiare put it all those years ago. But back to the spice for now. I've made my own allspice liqueur for years now. Usually some take on the serious eats recipe or the Home Bar Basics recipe. Within the last year I discovered Ward Series Spice № 1 from Spring Mill. It's the only thing resembling allspice liqueur available in Ontario annnnnd it's completely free of sediment! Despite my most fastidious straining there's always sediment in homemade. I found it to be a lovely spice liqueur and worked well in many drink recipes. Once my store of Spice #1 dried up I decided to give the syrup from The Shameful Tiki Room a go. It too is very tasty. There's even a recipe on the back label for, wait for it, Ancient Mariner! There is a small change to the recipe however....

Instead of the liqueur and syrup the Shameful recipe calls for 0.75 oz of allspice syrup. I found in this version the spice was much more notable but maybe that isn't really what this drink is meant to be.... There is a coded key at the top of each recipe page in Grog Log to let you know strength, recommended glassware, and mixing method. There is a note to the reader before the recipes that if there is no mixing tin or blender graphic you are to "stir vigorously" so that's exactly what I did. In general I prefer this drink with more pronounced spice and spindle blended but as a Mai Tai alternative (in the realm of a Cuban Anole) is perhaps how one ought to mentally categorise this drink. Who's to say?

Cheers!

*page 16 of Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's Grog Log