I wanted to make a banana flavored drink but I wasn't happy with any of the recipes I found online or in my library of cocktail books so I decided to make my own. I always enlist the Tiki Gal's help when working on a new drink because she is definitely going to give me an honest opinion one way or another.
My first attempt included pineapple juice, orange juice, Creme De Banana, Creme De Cacao and Myer's Dark Rum because, well, Myer's is good in everything. The drink was not great and tasted a little bitter. Like a trooper, the Tiki Gal volunteered to drink it anyway. I thought maybe the Creme De Cacao was causing the problem so I used Amaretto instead. Apparently, however, the Creme De Cacao wasn't the problem because the drink was still bitter. Like a trooper, I volunteered to drink the rest of the drink anyway.
For the next attempt, we replaced the Myer's with Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay Coconut Rum and that did the trick. The drink was sweet and heavily influenced by the banana but the Amaretto cut the sweetness enough that it wasn't cloying. Due to our dedication to making better boat drinks, we each had a cup of the new and improved version - purely for research purposes, of course.
On Friday night, I made this new drink, tentatively called a Banana Split, for the Tiki Gal and Carol. The recipe is:
Banana Split
Color: Yellow.
Ingredients: 2.5 oz. orange juice, 2.5 oz. pineapple juice, 1 oz. coconut rum, 1 oz. creme de banana, 1 oz. Amaretto
Taste: The drink is sweet with a definite banana taste but not cloying.
Comments: Carol said it might be her new favorite drink.
Dale and I also drank a beer or two.
Trappistes Rochefort
Color: Unpasteurized apple cider.
Skunkiness: 0 skunks. Carol declared that this beer has the most complex smell of any she has sniffed.
Taste: High alcohol content with a hint of coffee. Dale decided it would be his new breakfast beer. Sweet and complex.
Comments: This beer had a significant amount of suspended particles. Carol did some quick research and found that these particles were yeast. The beer was good but we're not too sure about the yeast issue.
Rating: 4 pints out of 5.
Jaegermeister
Comments: Not a beer. See New Year's Eve entry for information on Jaegermeister. Dale knew that I had a tough week at work so he brought out the big guns. I'm a little scared to say that Jaegermeister is growing on me.
New Belgium Abbey
Color: Dark amber.
Skunkiness: 0 skunks but a strong malty smell. Carol thought it smelled like a Whopper in a glass.
Taste: Extremely malty taste. As Fat Tire is to hops, Abbey is to malt.
Comments: If you enjoy malt, this is the beer for you. Otherwise, it is not impressive.
Rating: 3 pints.
Spaten Optimator
Comments: See McNellie's for a full description. Optimator is just as good from a bottle as it is from a tap.
Rating: 4.5 pints.
The card playing didn't go too well for the guys this week. I won at Cutthroat but the girls won pitch and the Tiki Gal kicked our rears at Oh Hell! This just proves that luck can trump skill.
No comments:
Post a Comment