Mixology... Wednesday?: XCIX: Ice, Ice Baby
It's MxMo time again and The Muse has chosen ice. Here's a snippet:
"It's that time again... Can you believe we're up to Mixology Monday 99, folks? And in all this time there hasn't once been a theme dedicated to that undersung-yet-essential part of nearly any cocktail: ICE.
The word says it all. Big ice cubes for Old Fashioneds, pellet ice for juleps and cobblers, shaved ice for adult snowcones, crushed ice molded into a cone for a classic Navy Grog. The art of the blender. Tell us why your selected or invented cocktail needs this particular ice usage. Show us how to make perfectly clear ice at home or what you get to work with as a professional drink-slinger.It doesn't even have to be pure H2O, either. Flavor it up! Teas, juices, liqueurs, bitters, other frozen edible objects serving as ice. Tell us the nuances of a properly-made Il Palio. Show us why a decorative approach takes your recipe to the next level. Whatever tickles your tastebuds and refreshes you this summer.As you can tell, scaffas are right out the window this time around. Spirits named Van Winkle, Larceny, or actual vanilla ice cubes are pure bonus."
Ice, eh? I was gonna blog about that once. How's about I dust off the draft?
An oft overlooked component of a drink is ice. People don't really care about it. Some even scoff at paying for ice! Though I've found bagged ice from the store to what some freezers in some apartment kitchens can muster. I've read about ice. I've read about dilution. But it didn't really sink in until two things happened. Firstly I made a Coconaut properly, finally! Second I read The Bar Book. The first put in my purview the importance of the amount of ice, the second put in the quality (and in the case of shaken drinks the amount) of ice. I won't divulge secrets from Mr Morgenthaler's book but I will encourage you to buy it, or borrow it from your local library. Borrow it and takes notes, metal notes!
So this wouldn't be a booze blog post without a drink recipe but first a little preamble.
I haz a confuse. What has all this been?
Quiet you!
Anyway, Hemingway... Found on several blogs is a drink called the Coconaut. I can't recall where I first read of it. Likely it was Rumdood although it could have been K.P. or Mountain Of Crushed Ice. Oh, oooh, I get it now! A mountain!
It was apparently a hit. A delicious delicious hit. I made it, it seemed too sweet. I tried again. I tried again with the King Of Hogo (possibly also with JWray) it still seemed really really sweet. I drank other things for a while. Then I re-read the recipe. I'd been using far too little ice. A blender-full of ice! When the recipe is followed properly it's delicious! It might even be on fire! So here it be, Nihil Utopia style.
Coconaut Flaming Re-Entry
7 oz dark rum*
8 oz cream of coconut**
2 oz lime juice†
4-5 cups of crushed ice††
Blend‡
*the funkier the better, Jamaican
**Coco Lope if available, Real Coco works too
†save spent lime shell(s)
††use the cleanest possible ice. Use the Camper English/Dave Stolte method. Buy The Bar Book and use the "suck it up you're drinking at home" method. Go to a place that supplies ice sculptors, damned if i know how you'll get it up to your 3rd floor apartment!
‡I stop blending based on sound, you do whatever works for you.
Pour the result into a large tiki vessel (or two less large ones, or four miniscule ones) place a lime in the centre and fill the lime with overproof rum (or a crouton soaked in lemon extract) turn down the lights and light with a fireplace match if you're sensible or a regular match if you're me.
Voila! One (and a second) Coconaut.
You'll never doubt the importance of ice again.
"It's that time again... Can you believe we're up to Mixology Monday 99, folks? And in all this time there hasn't once been a theme dedicated to that undersung-yet-essential part of nearly any cocktail: ICE.
The word says it all. Big ice cubes for Old Fashioneds, pellet ice for juleps and cobblers, shaved ice for adult snowcones, crushed ice molded into a cone for a classic Navy Grog. The art of the blender. Tell us why your selected or invented cocktail needs this particular ice usage. Show us how to make perfectly clear ice at home or what you get to work with as a professional drink-slinger.It doesn't even have to be pure H2O, either. Flavor it up! Teas, juices, liqueurs, bitters, other frozen edible objects serving as ice. Tell us the nuances of a properly-made Il Palio. Show us why a decorative approach takes your recipe to the next level. Whatever tickles your tastebuds and refreshes you this summer.As you can tell, scaffas are right out the window this time around. Spirits named Van Winkle, Larceny, or actual vanilla ice cubes are pure bonus."
Ice, eh? I was gonna blog about that once. How's about I dust off the draft?
An oft overlooked component of a drink is ice. People don't really care about it. Some even scoff at paying for ice! Though I've found bagged ice from the store to what some freezers in some apartment kitchens can muster. I've read about ice. I've read about dilution. But it didn't really sink in until two things happened. Firstly I made a Coconaut properly, finally! Second I read The Bar Book. The first put in my purview the importance of the amount of ice, the second put in the quality (and in the case of shaken drinks the amount) of ice. I won't divulge secrets from Mr Morgenthaler's book but I will encourage you to buy it, or borrow it from your local library. Borrow it and takes notes, metal notes!
So this wouldn't be a booze blog post without a drink recipe but first a little preamble.
I haz a confuse. What has all this been?
It was apparently a hit. A delicious delicious hit. I made it, it seemed too sweet. I tried again. I tried again with the King Of Hogo (possibly also with JWray) it still seemed really really sweet. I drank other things for a while. Then I re-read the recipe. I'd been using far too little ice. A blender-full of ice! When the recipe is followed properly it's delicious! It might even be on fire! So here it be, Nihil Utopia style.
Coconaut Flaming Re-Entry
7 oz dark rum*
8 oz cream of coconut**
2 oz lime juice†
4-5 cups of crushed ice††
Blend‡
*the funkier the better, Jamaican
**Coco Lope if available, Real Coco works too
†save spent lime shell(s)
††use the cleanest possible ice. Use the Camper English/Dave Stolte method. Buy The Bar Book and use the "suck it up you're drinking at home" method. Go to a place that supplies ice sculptors, damned if i know how you'll get it up to your 3rd floor apartment!
‡I stop blending based on sound, you do whatever works for you.
Pour the result into a large tiki vessel (or two less large ones, or four miniscule ones) place a lime in the centre and fill the lime with overproof rum (or a crouton soaked in lemon extract) turn down the lights and light with a fireplace match if you're sensible or a regular match if you're me.
Voila! One (and a second) Coconaut.
You'll never doubt the importance of ice again.
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