Friday The 13th Punch Up

I've been sitting on this for a while now and I've still not got a definitive recipe but I'm getting close.

It started New Year's Eve last year.  I wanted something I could sip throughout the evening.  We had blood oranges so I decided to incorporate them. I knew that Rick had a drink calling for blood orange and I started searching.  I found the Cthulhu Punch eventually.  At the time Kraken wasn't available here but I did have some Captain Morgan Spiced Rum....

There were some other ingredient discrepancies so I decided to improvise.  (I think the Dood calls it a riff). In fact all of the booze needed to be subbed. I thought the savouriness of Fee Bros celery bitters would be a good sub for the Kummel and as over proof rum was all I had on hand I decided on incorporating it in the recipe rather than floating. This is what I made:

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New Year's Punch
1 oz Capt Morgan Spiced Rum
1 oz Metaxa 7 star
1/2 oz Brugal 151
1½ oz orzata
2 oz blood orange juice
3/4 oz lime juice
2 dashes Fee Bros celery bitters
5 dashes Angostura bitters


Shake, strain over ice in a tall glass.  Garnish with lime shell. Fill lime shell with 1 oz Creme de Cacao.

I guess this was a bloody scorpion or something. At least that's what I considered it to be.  The Metaxa standing in for Brandy. The Creme de Cacao (mostly) stayed in the shell until the end of the drink and added a nice finish. Other than that there wasn't much flavour evolution.  It was tasty, mind you, just mostly the same taste the whole night even as the ice melted.

I didn't revisit this until recently. Why I'm unsure of. But that's what happened.  I blame Erik onions.

Anyway...

Recently I had some imbibing company and decided to bring this back out. The drink was as such:

Cinco De Mayo Punch
1 oz homemade spiced rum*
1 oz Metaxa 5 star
1 oz Creme de Cacao
1.5 oz orzata/orgeat
1.5 oz blood orange juice
0.75 oz lime juice
2 dashes Fee Bros celery bitters
6 dashes Angostura bitters


Shake, strain in a bucket over crushed ice.  Float 1/4 oz Brugal 151.  No garnish.

Crushed Ice

I enjoyed this.  So did my guests. Changing the Creme de Cacao to a main in gredient rather than a float was a good idea (IMO). "Tasty" was the comment as I recall. My guests had more than did I. I had a mini.  Then I added pineapple juice.  Not really what it needed.  (You'll notice a change in the Metaxa.  The 5 star, though good, is more of a mixer than the 7 so why not).

I decided I should revisit it again and not wait 5 months this time!  So here goes:

Friday 13th Punch
1 oz spiced rum
1 oz Metaxa 5 Star
1 oz Creme de Cacao
1 oz blood orange juice
1 oz orzata/orgeat
3/4 oz lime juice
8 deshes Angostura bitters
3 dashes Fee Bros celery bitters


Shake with ice and strain over ice in a tall glass. Garnish with grated nutmeg, mint leaves and a lime shell filled with 3/4 oz Brugal 151. 

Don't forget to "spank" the mint†. Or as has been heard recently in the bar: "Spank Da Mint"

Friday 13th

Perhaps I didn't use enough mint but I didn't really notice it's aroma.  I did notice the nutmeg and 151.  The mint might have been out muscled.  The drink was tasty but it might need something else‡. Maybe some amaro? I don't know.  I'll keep experimenting I guess. I encourage you to try one and see what you think.  I did push the mint to the bottom of my glass and "muddle" it a little with the straw as the end approached.  By this time the bite of the 151 had become noticeable and the sweetness of the orgeat and juice had gone home for the night.  It's always a nice development when a drink evolves as you drink it. I think a 151 Mojito might be in the future.

Cheers!

* I didn't make my rum from a specific recipe but if you're going to make your own I recommend the DJ's recipe.
† Usually I use the countertop rather than my hand.
Tiare seems to think Chartreuse is the magic answer. "magic drops transforms an average drink into a potion of dreams"  http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=12984 ;http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=12202

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