Apologies for my lack of posts; I was away in San Luis Obispo, blissfully tasting wine until my tastebuds went numb. I’m here to make it up to you, though, because I’ve recently hit the motherlode. Prior to my trip, I finally received a copy of the Grog Log which, through various cruel tricks of fate, has been sadly absent from my bookshelf. While visiting SLO, I participated in one of my favorite hobbies: perusing used bookstores. On one such excursion I landed a copy of the 1972 Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide, Revised which, though informative, is especially worth reading for the pages of highly amusing advice the Trader imparts to his readers. Even more happily, upon returning home I found my freshly minted copy of Sippin’ Safari in the mailbox. I am now awash in cocktail recipes to be explored, so be prepared for some boozy goodness in the weeks to come.

To get myself warmed up for the cocktail gymnastics in store, I first set my sights on the Grog Log. Like the Bum’s other books, it is full of delightful exotic recipes. After ten minutes of heavy deliberation, I decided I could work up the energy to juice a lime and work a shaker, and that I could probably drum up some amusing mental pictures of Charlton Heston manning a tiki bar for this particular concoction.

¾ oz créme de banana
2 ounces dark Jamaican rum
1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
½ oz lime juice

Shake all ingredients with one cup crushed ice. Pour into a pilsener glass and garnish with a fresh banana slice and maraschino cherry.

Strangely, this tastes like a very fresh Hawaiian Punch. The banana doesn’t come through very strong, so the flavor is mostly a melange of harmonious tropical fruit flavor. Tasty, tart, rummy and not too sweet. Overall a big hit.

But it would still be better if Charlton Heston made it.