Odd Couple
John Berens John Berens

Odd Couple

I’ve tried a lot of split bases along the way. It might be a sickness, but if it is, I don’t want the cure. If nothing else, two primary spirits allow for more dots to connect to other flavors/ingredients. Sometimes, there is an amazing synergy— like here, for example, the grassy funk from the cachaça totally changes in the presence of the savory-leaning botanicals of the aquavit. Seriously, give this split a try. (I may also need to try with rhum agricole now too!).

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PiscOasis
John Berens John Berens

PiscOasis

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Hard to believe it, but we’re now up to Drink #8 of 10 in the @catanpisco and @settlersofcatan collaboration. Today’s drink is distinctly tropical and inspired by the Desert Hex in the board game. I envisioned something absolutely refreshing and thirst-quenching, which wasn’t hard to imagine given the current weather/heat.

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Beach Wisdom
John Berens John Berens

Beach Wisdom

I’ve been enjoying some much-needed time at the beach this week. To get into the mood, I threw together this recipe and tried to bring as much tropical goodness as I could into one glass. In case you’re wondering, I had the coconut cachaça sitting in my fridge, but it’s really easy to make if you have coconut oil.

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Big Fat Tiki
John Berens John Berens

Big Fat Tiki

Happy Tiki Tuesday! Happy Fat Tuesday! I have one big whopper of a tiki drink for you today. This one makes me really excited because there are too few whiskey-based tiki drinks in my opinion. When @alpinedistilling kindly gifted me their spiced bourbon, I knew I had to go in that direction. I love my strong, overproof whiskies, but I gotta say— this is really delicious all by itself, maybe not too surprisingly since I love cinnamon and stone fruit.

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The Cavallino
John Berens John Berens

The Cavallino

Today I’m sharing with you my second of two entries for the @homebarawards finals (includes Fernet; no juice or homemade ingredients; stirred). My first post was Fernet-forward, smooth, dark, and handsome. This one is less Fernet-centric but much louder and bolder and has tiki running through its veins.

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Mai Ti-erra
John Berens John Berens

Mai Ti-erra

Cold weather hits and sure, the flips and toddies come out in full force, but right around this time of year I switch to Tiki Mode. The vacation/beach vibes are especially welcome now that the holidays are well behind us.

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Blood, sweat, & Tears
John Berens John Berens

Blood, sweat, & Tears

This month’s @homebarawards is stirred tiki. It’s really a great challenge and brings up at least one important issue: how do you bring bright tropical flavors if you can’t shake up fresh juice? For this drink, my answer to this puzzle is one of my favorite tools to bring bright flavors and acidity to a cocktail: the shrub.

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