Aspirin Tape

A couple weeks ago the theme for TDN was Coconut.  I sat out the week after, but its theme was crushed ice, which my coconut creation also would have satisfied:

Aspirin Tape

• 1 oz Smith & Cross Jamaica Rum
• 1 oz Rhum Clément VSOP
• ½ oz Lemon Hart 151° Demerara Rum (aka LH151)
• ½ oz Navan Vanilla Liquor
• ¼ oz Bénédictine
• 1 oz coconut water
• ¾ oz lime
• ½ oz pineapple gomme
• 2 dashes grapefruit bitters
• 1 dash angostura
• float of Trader Tiki Hibiscus grenadine

shake and strain over crushed ice into coconut cup, float grenadine, mint garnish, float lime shell filled with LH151 and set aflame, don't burn the umbrella, sip through straw (stolen from McD's on the walk home from work)

The name refers to the phrase "Tape an Aspirin to it" my dad oft repeated when confronted with all sorts of complaints from us kids.  And I'm not talking just about a headache or a sore knee, that was his default advice for a bloody gash, a broken toy, a flat tire, you name it.  It also is a glance toward the Painkiller tiki cocktail (and its namesake bar).  It also occurs to me it could be a tangential reference to the advice the doctor might give after you put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up, so take your pick.

I initially decided to try out mixing with the coconut water, nd then figured I might as well use the whole coconut.    Do you have any idea how hard coconuts are?  They are really damn hard; it took quite an effort to saw off the top with my crappy little hacksaw, but the effort paid its due dividend. 

I also decided to use, since pineapple and coconut pair well, the new pineapple gomme I recently got from Small Hand Foods (via The Boston Shaker), which I had previously only tried in this version of Pisco Punch.  The pisco didn't provide enough punch, so I swapped in the Clément.  Still needed more, thus the LH151 addition.  A couple more tweaks and I ended up with this 11 ingredient monster.  But after sawing off the top of the coconut in the NY heat wave, it proved quite refreshing.  I also like the use of the gomme here, which really does make a difference in texture, which might otherwise be a bit thin with the coconut water and the crushed ice.  I'd still give it a try with a pineapple simple syrup if you don't have the gomme though.

The straw is key.  The crushed ice is highly recommended, with the two overproof rums and the extra kick of the strong liquers, this is not a weak drink, but it doesn't taste too strong.  It just tastes good.