This episode started out covering the Isla De Piña cocktail by Shannon Mustipher. Rather than me writing about an original modern cocktail with not much backstory to go off, I decided to reach out and see if this venerable mistress of rum would take the time to talk to a pirate the likes of me and all you scallywags. I was lucky enough to sit with Shannon herself and talk all about her influences, classic and modern Tiki, plus a whole buncha’ rum! Shannon’s book, Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails, is a must have for any Tiki enthusiast’s recipe shelf. To say nothing of the beautiful photography that makes it a perfect coffee table book that’s sure to get your uninitiated friends to ask questions.
This is not going to be a full stand alone episode, but a supplement to the interview with Shannon. Which is available now wherever you usually listen. So, if you haven’t heard that yet I urge you to pause this and give that a spin as it is this month’s actual episode. But, alas! I didn’t want to not cover a drink this month and I had such a good time talking with Shannon about rum and Tiki we forgot to cover the reason I reached out - Isla De Piña.
The Isla De Piña drink itself is a unique play off a daiquiri employing some of the tropical fruit flavors we know and love with a classical use of liqueur to add refinement. What I love about Shannon’s drinks is how she manipulates familiar flavors in unlikely delivery methods. For instance, the use of a pineapple liqueur rather than juice. But, let’s not put the rum before the horse. That’s a good way to end up with a drunk horse.
We’ll start off with the rum selection. Shannon suggests Diplomatico Planas. That’s their white rum offering. I like everything Diplomatico puts out. In fact, the Reserva Exclusiva has been my favorite rum for years. Aside from the Cuban Havana Club that I can’t get here. So, I was quite happy to see that rum used here. As discussed in the episode one of the reasons I chose to do the Isla De Piña was because I could find all the ingredients. Or so I thought. Turns out that Diplomatico is changing distributors here in Nashville and is held up in legal limbo right now. Essentially, the distributor who can sell it can’t have it and the distributor who has it can’t sell it. And the wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round.
If you listened to the episode you will have heard Shannon talk about preferring the light rums, one of her favorites being The Real McCoy 3yr. This is a spirit I had worked with before when exploring light rums that came close to the Cuban Havana Club. I settled on Flor de Cana for some time. Much like with cigar tobacco Nicaragua has grown to give Cuba a run for their CUC’s in the rum category. Yet, although the Flor de Cana 4yr white has the crisp fruitiness of a good column still Spanish rum it lacks the earthy body. The issue of my new favorite white rum was instantly solved when I re-tasted The Real McCoy 3yr with my now more refined palate. The texture of this aged light rum produced by the famed Foursquare distillery in Barbados adds a delightful silkiness to everything from a Daiquiri, to a Mojito, to an Isla De Piña.
One of the things I dislike about Tiki is how our drinks sometimes play right into the stereotypes that drove the genre into cliche obscurity in the first place. We’ve worked so hard to prove that Tiki drinks aren’t simply syrupy gimmicks to sell rum drinks at the beach. Therefore, when a drink is overly sweetened it sickens me. In my stomach and my sensibilities. If you prefer your drinks so sweet that you can’t appreciate the nuance of the spirit perhaps you should order a Mike’s Hard Lemonade instead. For this reason I love that Shannon used a liqueur in place of added sweetener. A liqueur is a spirit base with added flavors and sugar. Before the rise of mixed cocktails many liqueurs were either aperitifs or digestifs served in small sipping glasses a la limoncello, anisette, Grand Marnier, etc. Common Tiki ingredients like Falernum and Curacao are indeed liqueurs. For the Isla De Piña, Shannon supplements the use of pineapple juice and sugar by using Giffard’s Caribbean Pineapple Liqueur. My favorite attribute of Gifford’s Pineapple is the real fruit flavor. It doesn’t taste like artificial candy. It adds a caramelly depth and elegant cocktail-eque feel.
Pimento Dram is not only a staple of Tiki drink culture but has become a fixture in my home recipes. I always find myself adding this allspice derivative to my holiday punches. We’ve covered Pimento Dram before so I’ll just recap. The pimento in question is not the stuffed olive you may be thinking of. This pimento, otherwise known as Allspice, is a dried berry native to Jamaica and other Caribbean map dots. Along with its cousin, nutmeg, it’s funny how allspice has become synonymous with fall and winter libations. Pimento Dram is a liqueur made from this creamy, nutty, spice. St. Elizabeth’s is the industry standard but Hamilton makes a nice one if you can find it.
As always we want to use fresh squeezed lime juice. No excuse not to. Don’t be lazy.
With that litany of rum and liqueurs it may seem odd that the one thing that stumped me in this drink is passion fruit puree. I told this story in the interview, but I’ll give the abridged version here. Shannon mentions in the book to try using fresh fruit when possible but the frozen passion fruit squares by Pitaya Foods is the easiest option. I knew of this brand because Beachbum Berry suggests using it to make homemade passion fruit syrup. Of course, in the name of freshness, I always have to do things the hard way. Passion fruit is a pain in the ass to harvest fresh. The inside is not a hard flesh, but a goopy liquid filled with seeds. After separating the liquid by adding some water and straining multiple times I was ready to make a drink!
Much to my chagrin the fresh passion fruit overpowered the cocktail. Not that it’s a bad flavor, but there was no sign of any other ingredient. Then my scant culinary training came back to me. I remembered that when using fresh herbs rather than dried one must adjust the amount for the disparity in potency. Glancing over at the two remaining passion fruits beginning to wrinkle resembling a pair of bull testicles and thinking of having to separate the puree out again I resigned to trek my ass downtown to Whole Foods and purchase the frozen puree.
Ahhh, this made all the difference. In a drink named for pineapple I could actually taste the pineapple now. Along with the abstract nuance of good Caribbean rum. After experimenting slightly to find my desired sweet/sour ratio I landed on 3 frozen cubes being the perfect amount. Shannon calls for ½ oz of passion fruit puree. If you let the cubes melt, or muddle them, it works out to about that. I like to throw them in frozen as it will all come out in the blender.
So? What do you say? Should we, eh, make a drink!? Rather let’s.
Isla De Piña is:
2 oz Aged White Rum
½ oz Pineapple Liqueur
½ oz Lime Juice
¼ oz Pimento Dram
3 cubes Frozen Passion Fruit Puree (½ oz)
4 oz Crushed Ice
Blend all ingredients on high for 5 seconds then fine strain into a coup. Garnish with pineapple frond. The reason for fine straining is to catch any ice chunks. If you don’t mind that you can just strain once and that will keep the frothy head across the top. I find that the way around this is to blend it longer. I don’t taste any effects on the drink, but Shannon does specify to flash blend for 5 seconds in the book.
The first sip is cold and crisp, but textured like a fancy prohibition style cocktail. The pineapple comes through with a hint of tropical passion fruit. The allspice fills it out nodding to the exotic Caribbean feel. It is truly a tropical concoction worthy of the cocktail moniker.
As I sit on my lanai surrounded by colorful flowers, a potted palm tree and my Hawaiian Ti plant that I’ve nursed back from 2 winters I can close my eyes after a sip of Isla De Piña and picture myself on the raised deck of a luxury hotel overlooking the ocean caressing the shore. Some yacht rock wafting on a warm breeze. (What a fool belieeeeeves….) I take a puff from a long lancero cigar followed by another sip. My wife in a beautiful sarong loosely hanging over body. Perhaps a bite of seared tuna, then another sip. Where is this escapist dream? Sail away with me to the Isla De Piña!
Sources: Tiki: Modern Tropical Cocktails by Shannon Mustipher, Pod Tiki interview with Shannon Mustipher.
Most of all thank you for listening and please drink responsibly. My name is Tony, and this is Pod Tiki. Keepi’ Tiki!