Sharkbaits Cocktail of the Week: Test Driving

Hooray we made it through another week! This week’s drink comes from my bartender friend who I’ve mentioned here many times before. Another friend of ours was in town from Pittsburgh and The two of us decided to get dinner at the Tiki bar where our other friend is the Bar manager. Being a Wednesday night when we went things were busy, but not so busy that we were a distraction and the 3 of us got to shoot the shit for a while which is always fun.

I was pleasantly surprised when our bartender friend placed a couple unsolicited glasses in front of us with the instructions to “Try this”. When I asked what it was, I was told this is a work in progress that needs a name, because what he has in his recipe book definitely won’t fly on a cocktail menu:

That says Macadamia Nut Bullshit. I love it, but definitely needs to be workshopped. It has:

.5 Lemon
.25 Cinnamon 
.25 Orgeat
.25 Allspice
.5 Macadamia Nut Liqueur
1.5 Hamilton Pot Still Gold
2 dashes Angostura
Pebble Ice and Shake

There is also a mint and orange peel garnish not mentioned in the recipe, but is quite obviously there.

Light on the nose. The mint is very subtle which I like, especially for the various flavors at play here. It somehow ties them all together and it just works.

This is excellent, and gives serious classic tiki cocktail vibes. What I find interesting is initially the stars of the show is the orgeat and the macadamia. I think they compliment each other very nicely. The macadamia liqueur slightly edges out the orgeat, but not so much as it’s completely overpowering. I’ve never had macadamia liqueur before, and this is making me want to keep some on had at home. Apparently it was brought in by one of the other bartenders and my buddy took it as a challenge to make something with it. The liqueur and orgeat combo also help balance out the over proof rum, which I can start to pick up the more I sip. My friend added it to offset the sweetness from the orgeat and macadamia liqueur and I think it was an excellent choice to add a little bit of a kick. The over proof rum also brings out the natural gold rum flavor, without making it overly strong tasting. I forgot to ask what the overproof rum was that he added, but I would assume that the it’s Wray and Nephew.

The finish is a mixture of the rums and the nut syrup/liqueurs. It’s refreshing and a nice deviation on a tiki drink that is still in the ballpark of a mai tai, but just different enough to be it’s own distinct thing. My friend is still tweaking the base still, and he’s thinking about making is winter seasonal and adding it to the menu then. I’m very much looking forward to trying that version and I offer myself as tribute to taste test the prototypes before he nails the final recipe then. .

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)