Mixology Monday: The Jet Pilot Crashes

Welcome to Drink Dogma’s first Mixology Monday. Ah, I remember the days when the old-site, Explore the Pour, was first giving into the peer pressure of drinking along blogging guidelines. But, I was a less-experienced blogger (and bartender for that matter) then, and thanks to my obsession…err…devotion to learning as much about spirits and cocktails as possible, my scope into the world of mixed drinks has increased tremendously. One genre of drinks which have garnered my focus recently have been tiki drinks, perfectly aligning my current mixology projects with this weeks “Limit One” MxMo theme.

Several tiki cocktails would definitely fit the one drink limit. Tiki concoctions are often considered to be enough for the evening by themselves; anything in addition and you might as well just call in sick for the next day. Tiki cocktails generally are one of the least utilized cocktails for the everyday bartender because of their lengthy recipes and intimidating garnishes and presentations. Sure, any admirable cocktail bar should have exotic ingredients and numerous fruits on hand, but tiki drinks, even more than the most complicated classics, require the bar to modify their inventory and practices to disproportionately accommodate a few types of drinks. That being said, this is not an excuse, but may help to explain why tiki drinks less frequently pave their way into even the most prideful cocktail bars, which is a shame.

 

Consequently, if you’re a bartender or at home mixologist, you’re probably going to have to put the tiki effort in yourself. Sure, some are fortunate enough to live near a great tiki bar like Forbidden Island, but the rest of have to seek out exotic ingredients, fruits, and crazy mugs without counsel. If you find yourself in this situation, the first resource you should look into is Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari. Of all his books, this the most complete and descriptive account of his quest to uncover tiki drinks and share them with the public. Several drinks in here would fit the Limit One description, but one of my favorites by far is The Jet Pilot, not to be confused with the Test Pilot:

The Jet Pilot

1 oz Dark Rum
3/4 oz Puerto Rican Rum
3/4 oz 151-Proof Lemon Hart Demerara Rum
1/2 oz Fee Brother’s Falernum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Simple Syrup
6 Drops Pernod
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
4 oz (1/2 Cup) Crushed Ice

Put everything into a blender, adding crushed ice last, and blend at high speed for five seconds. Pour into an old-fashioned glass.

See why not every bar makes these things? One of the primary reasons obviously is the blender. Man, they make so much noise, and they don’t really go with a carefully stirred manhattan, but hey the jet pilot is also a great throw back to another era, and it definitely does the trick, if you can find everything to put in it. The 151-Proof Lemon Hart Demerara can be a tough find, but you can always go the online route and get some here.

This drinks is awesome because of the depth of flavor. Too often, people unfamiliar with tiki drinks assume that the seemingly simple mixtures of fruit juice and rum are simple formulas, but like this drink, the types of rum and accents of various dashes create a mixture that leaves you wanting more, though this is clearly a misguided choice. The Jet Pilot was the creation of the Laua Restaurant, a late 50’s tiki joint in Beverly Hills. It is an awesome drink that combines spiced flavors of cinnamon and dark rum flavors with the Angostura and Pernod and fruit juices. Man, it is one of the best tiki drinks I have had yet. You have to give this one a try. If you don’t believe me, just ask Rick at Kaiser Penguin. He thought the same thing about the Jet Pilot.

Rick is also our host for this week’s Mixology Monday: Limit One. However, in Rick’s post on the Jet Pilot he emphatically declares: “This has to be one of my favorite faux tropicals. Ok, I must go make another one now …”. Wow, Rick what counts as a “limit one” drink? I thought this drink would have definitely counted; heck, it would be illegal to serve in a bar in Texas. Sure, I know our state has some messed up laws, but man, I hope this qualifies for Mixology Monday at least. If you want to see others try and stack up to the Kaiser Penguins tolerance, head over to his site for the MxMo roundup. Just be sure to comeback to Drink Dogma in the future - change those rss feeds, bookmarks, and links.

By the way, what do you think of my new site?