Sharkbaits Cocktail of the Week: Pacific Surfliner

No no, I have not been to California recently, and this really has nothing to do with the train that bears this drink’s name: The Surfliner. Though taking that train is on the bucket list because the views along the water look awesome.

Anyway why the surfliner? I went looking for more use cases for my orgeat syrup still in the fridge, and sadly I’m just about out of gin and rum so that limited the options a bit. Plus, why not see what there is out there for whiskey based tiki goodness? Who doesn’t need something like that on a Friday heading into the summer right?

2 oz. rye whiskey 
1 oz. pineapple juice
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz. orgeat
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled. Fill a Double Old Fashioned glass with crushed ice, then strain contents into the prepped glass.

A couple of items of note here. The link above has a garnish of a lemon wheel, pineapple frond and cherry. Those would have gone in there, had I had them. Cherries are already on the shopping list, and the lemon I used for the juice was already sliced and the juicing rendered any kind of garnish untenable. Also no crushed ice. Having to crush ice manually, my go to is to take the back half of my muddler and beat the shit out of some ice in a bag. However, at time of preparation, the two kids were asleep on the other side of the wall where my work surface is. So not wanting to wake up a 19 month old, I opted for the large cube instead.

Just looking at this thing is making me think I made a good choice here. It’s definitely radiating tiki vibes and I’m here for it. Now, it does have a very mellow nose. I don’t get much of anything really. I thought I got some lemon but going back in I don’t think I did.

What this lacks in aroma, it more than makes up for in flavor. It’s a very, well balanced tiki drink. It starts out as a wonderful mixture of all the ingredients, tilting ever so slightly towards the lemon, in the sense that it is a touch sour.

The lemon does a great job of balancing out the orgeat sweetness, but not it’s flavor and especially not its mouth feel. The syrup gives this drink body and in a very good way. In the way every good tiki based drink is. Another contributing factor is the pineapple. The shaken pineapple adds more viscosity on top of the orgeat, contributing to the good mouth feed all throughout the sip.

The rye is completely overrun here. I can’t really pick it out from the palate. Not a bad thing mind you. In a tiki drink, I think you want a nice balance, and an easy drinker. Which rye might be a little too strong for that application

The finish is a continuation of the excellent flavor mixture as mentioned above. It does leave a little bit of lingering flavor afterwards, which isn’t surprising given the thickness and body of the drink. I’d absolutely make this again, and have it on the shortlist for summer drinking.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)