Mai Tais for Europa Jens Hegg Friday, February 20, 2015

Yesterday my lovely wife was notified that she, along with a whole group of collaborators, will be funded by NASA! They will be to studying the recently discovered tectonic activity in the ice on Jupiters moon Europa. Getting funding is always welcome news, and doing something so cool deserved celebration…which in our house usually means a fancy mixed drink at some point.

A confluence of events sent us towards making up the original Mai Tai. First, our minds are turning toward the tropics and our upcoming honeymoon to Costa Rica. Second, we recently received awesome tiki glasses as a wedding present. Third, I've had a bottle of home made orgeat syrup sitting in my fridge for over a year and I'm always interested in finding new ways to use this amazing and perennially mis-pronounced nectar of the gods. (It's Or-zjat, not Or-Gee-ot). After being told by a friend that we should have a blog to document our drink mixing adventures I figured I had better post about these epic Mai Tai's, so here you go!

If you've never had a real Mai Tai you need to mix one up right away. It is epic! I had never had one despite how much the history of cocktails was influenced by Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic. These drinks are all about rum, good rum, and lots of it, in different varieties. When I think of Tiki drinks I think of rum mixed with fruit juice, but most of the classics are mostly booze with some fruit thrown in for taste. The classic Mai Tai is no different.

Here is the recipe I used, which borrows a bit from the Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber versions as well as this one from the Washington Post. These two feuded a bit over who invented this drink.

• 1oz - Pyrat blended rum (mostly Demerarra apparently)
• 1oz - Depaz Rhum Agricole
• 1oz- Cruzan light rum (it was in the bar…)
• Juice from one lime (~3/4 ounce)
• 1/2 ounce Triple Sec (no Cointreu or Orange Curaçao on hand)
• 1/2 ounce Orgeat syrup (essential for this drink, home-made is WAY better here)
• 1/2 oz Velvet Falernum (this stuff is awesome)
• 1/2 oz White grapefruit juice (I made it with and without, I like this addition a lot)
• 1/2Tbs powdered sugar (I didn't have simple syrup)

I was lazy and didn't use crushed ice. I put all the ingredients together in a blender, dropped in ice cubes and pulsed it a couple times until the ice was well cracked. DO NOT make this into a smoothy, that would be a tragedy! I garnished it with a stick of fresh pineapple and a lime wedge stuck with a fancy toothpick but a mint sprig and lime is traditional. This thing packs a serious punch and you can really taste the rum, I would avoid using cheap rum at all costs, it would ruin the smoothness of the drink. 

Mazatlán to Meadow Creek: Huckleberry Margaritas Jens Hegg Wednesday, July 30, 2014

This weekend Katie and I decided to go up to the Palouse Divide, in the Meadow Creek watershed, for huckleberries. We'd been told by some friends it was a good year, and it was. There were berries everywhere once we found them. Unfortunately we got there about an hour after lunch, right in the heat of the day. We managed to pick a gallon or so before the sun had beaten us into submission and we headed to the Hoodoo in Harvard, ID for lunch. When we got home we decided we needed some salt, a drink, and some huckleberries. We figured we could get all of that in one glass with a huckleberry margarita.

© 2009 Laurel F, Wikimedia Commons

Back in March I went down to Mazatlán, Mexico for a conference of the American Fisheries Society. The conference was excellent, the scenery and people were great, and the tequila was worth bringing home. I had a bottle of Los Osuna reposada, made near Mazatlán, that I hadn't opened yet. It's not technically a tequila since it is from Sinaloa, which isn't an approved tequila region, but it is made from 100% blue agave. They don't market themselves as a Mescal either, but it's good stuff. It's won a few tasting awards and is definitely good enough to sip and enjoy. Taste Tequila has a great video with some explanation of the tequila and it's background direct from one of the family members who have been making the stuff for the last hundred years.

There's nothing particularly special about the recipe, but the huckleberries are a great addition. Mix it all up, muddle some huckleberries in the bottom and pour it over ice in a salt rimmed glass and suddenly you have an awesome drink for a Palouse summer by way of Mazatlán. Here are the ingredients for one glass:

• 2oz fresh lime juice
• 3oz decent tequila (who wants to ruin huckleberries with Cuervo Gold)
• Agave syrup (or simple syrup), sweeten to taste
• Small handful of huckleberries
• Flaked salt for the rim
• Save a lime wedge for garnish. 

Cherry Colada Jens Hegg Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Here is a quick, delicious cherry colada that my fiancé Katie put together the other night. We spent the evening pitting cherries after picking several pounds at a friends house. I had picked up some coconut cream on sale a few days before, thinking it might be fun for a summer drink.

It's not hard at all. Mix everything in the blender to what seems like the right proportions and experiment. A handful of cherries is all you need. My friend Wil noted that if you freeze the cherries first you can cut down on the ice and it's even more intense. Here are the ingredients we used.

• Ice
• Lopez coconut cream
• Cherries
• Rum (We used Black Seal, it was all we had)

Have fun!