It’s FINALLY HERE! I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally launch my first instructional video with Liquid Culture. This has been a long time coming, but with the stars finally aligning with my vision (and my schedule), plus working with the talented Juan Angel, I’m excited to introduce the first day of Spring with this Tiki Serve. We wanted to step away from the typical ‘Tasty’ style, instructional videos you see on your Facebook Newsfeed or on Pinterest, and add a bit more personality, curiosity and design with our style. All in all, I hope these videos help give you the confidence you need to experiment with bartending at home!
I will always appreciate a good swizzle. For those of you unfamiliar with the term ‘Swizzle’, this style of cocktail hails from the Caribbean, using a special tool to mix the cocktail from the bark of the Quararibea Turbinata tree. Simply put, it is a cocktail made over crushed ice, and that uses a special tool to stir/churn a cocktail, aka the Swizzle Stick. With that broad of a definition, it doesn’t have to be limited to just Tiki drinks, Rum or Summer flavours. Pretty much anything can be a swizzle if you want it to be, and that’s exactly the approach I had with this Spring serve here.
I wanted to introduce a light, refreshing rum-based swizzle, that was also easy to recreate. I want to EASE this community into cocktails, and this is definitely the fast and easy way to get a swizzle done. Giving it a quick shake with crushed ice in the start, helps alleviate time churning the cocktail and for you to enjoy your drink that much faster.
Kiwi’s have been flooding the supermarket lately, which gave me the impression, this is the time to buy! They’re in season, they’re delicious, sweet and tart and the perfect eye candy for any cocktail. With that I wanted to incorporate a rum that would hold its own, while not offering a sweet molasses finish. That’s when the Six Saint Grenada Rum came into play. This Grenada Rum comes with all the spices and sweetness from the honey and cinnamon, without being cloying. You can taste artificial sweetness from a MILE AWAY when it comes to spirits, and the unfortunate thing with rum, is that if you don’t do your research, you’re bound to have bought a product that’s FULL of added sugars. Rum is in another extreme category of its own, and it’s a spirits where you really can’t mix and match the flavours. If a cocktail states a particular brand, you’ll definitely have to do the research to find something comparable, or just buy the product itself. Needless to say, you won’t have any regrets when it comes to picking up this rum because it’s great on its own or mixed in a cocktail.
I also did something a bit different this time around and whipped up some Demerara Syrup. For a Tiki cocktail, it feels wrong to use just regular Simple Syrup. Tiki cocktails are all about the layers of flavour, and even though I was trying to keep this on the lighter end of things, I had to add that small introduction to spice. It’s very simple, it’s the same ratio that I use for Simple Syrup, where I used 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 cup of Boiled Water. Give that a stir and let that sit until it reaches room temperature before you store it into your fridge. With this case, you use Demerara sugar and believe me, you won’t regret it!
Then we have the St Germain. How could I come up with a Spring cocktail and not use St Germain Elderflower liqueur? It seems impossible, at least that’s what I told myself, which lead me to mixing with it in the first place. St Germain can pretty much go with everything. There’s very little it can’t be paired with but what you need to understand is…a little goes a long way. You’ll have a bottle of St Germain for a while, trust me, I don’t think I’m even half way done and it’s been well over a year. It can DEFINITELY overwhelm a cocktail if you aren’t careful, so PLEASE be mindful and keep a close watch in your jigger that you don’t over pour this liqueur.
Folks, that is pretty much all I need to say about this cocktail, because I’m sure the video will give you a better idea of how to throw this together. If you have any questions, whatsoever, please don’t hesitate to comment below with your concerns of questions. But if you don’t, pick up some crushed ice (or mash some up at home) and get going!
Kiwi my Tiki
A refreshing Spring Swizzle that incorporates Rum, Cardamom, Elderflower liqueur and Kiwi to introduce the first day of Spring!
- Difficulty: Intermediate
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Six Saints Grenada Rum
- 1/3 oz St Germain
- 1/3 oz Demerara Syrup
- ½ oz Lemon Juice
- 3 Dashes Cardamom Bitters
- ½ Kiwi
- 2 sprigs of Mint 1 for garnish
- 1 oz Club Soda
Instructions
Remove the skin from Kiwi and in a shaker, muddle Kiwi
Add 1 sprig of mint leaves, Rum, St Germain, Lemon, Syrup, and Cardamom Bitters
Add a small handful of crushed ice into your shaker and give this a quick shake
Dump all contents into your pilsner glass and fill 3/4 of the glass with crushed ice. Swizzle until cold.
Fill the rest of the glass with crushed ice and top with Club Soda before garnishing with Mint Sprig
