A Moment of Tiki: Dry July and Nautical Antique Warehouse

I'm back with a couple more episodes of A Moment of Tiki to share. First up is episode 43: Dry July. The idea behind Dry July is that some folks who normally consume alcohol on a regular basis choose to abstain for a month. The reasons for doing so vary, but it has evolved into a national charitable event. Learn more at DryJuly.com.

I'm of the firm opinion that all bars--be they of the commercial or home variety--should have an attractive list of non-alcoholic cocktail alternatives for guests who are not imbibing. The reason does not matter. Giving someone a Sprite garnished with a day-glo cherry doesn't cut it. With tiki, however, this is magnified tenfold. Tiki's all about the experience and the immersion is disrupted when everyone else is getting fantastic, creative beverages whilst those abstaining from alcohol are offered options that are, shall we say, lacking in effort. Whether you call them mocktails, drybations or zero-proof cocktails, the end result should be no less a treat for the senses. When I came up with this recipe, I wanted something that'd be a treat for the eyes with a blend of bright, unexpected tropical flavors. I also wanted a texture and mouthfeel that were decadent and luxurious. The end result is a little sweeter than I usually aim for, but I believe the end result works well. If it's too sweet for your tastes, feel free to have the amounts of cinnamon and orgeat syrups. If you try this at home, be sure to let me know what you think!

Episode 42 features a road trip to Nautical Antique Warehouse in Galveston. I've relied on a lot of DIY in building out my tiki space, but even the most creative maker sometimes just wants to buy some decor and be done with it. This video should give viewers a good look at this tiki-adjacent gem on the Texas coast. Owners Michael and Adrienne Culpepper have been bringing authentic ship salvage to buyers for 22 years now and make annual buying trips to huge ship breaking yards in India, Bangladesh and Turkey. Subscribe to their mailing list to get the heads-up on when new cargo containers full of amazing finds arrive. I'd visit much more often if Galveston weren't a three-plus hour drive away from me.

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What's Jayme drinking?

Well, what do you know--I've managed to complete one last mocktail recipe for the whole Dry January thing. Talk about coming in under the wire. Just for the record, I don't really participate in Dry January or Dry July or whatever, because despite the idea these blog posts on tiki and beer may give, I don't drink that much. I learned long ago I don't enjoy being drunk all that much, and I enjoy hangovers even less, so moderation is the rule of the day.

That said, I like the idea of entertaining guests in my home tiki bar, but not everyone is going to be partaking in alcoholic cocktails for whatever reason. Someone has to drive home. Kids don't need to be drinking Mai Tais, either. So when I started this I wanted to come up with three mocktails these folks could enjoy that 1) looked as flashy and ornate as any tiki cocktail I could make, and B) have unique flavors and textures so that the guest is distracted from the fact their beverage is lacking any intoxicating spirits. I like to think I've accomplished that with these three recipes. Here's the latest:

UKULELE SUNSET
By Jayme Blaschke
2 oz. Mango juice
1 oz. White grapefruit juice
0.75 oz. Prickly pear shrub
0.75 oz. Ginger syrup
0.5 oz. Lime juice
0.5 oz. Coconut milk
0.5 oz. Tonic water
0.25 oz. Honey syrup (2:1)
8 oz. Crushed ice

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend on high until thoroughly liquified. Pour unstrained into poco grande glass. Garnish with mango balls and umbrella pick. Plastic monkey optional.

In keeping with my tiki-themed drinks, I wanted one frozen mocktail to round out my menu, something that could stand alongside fruity piña coladas and the like. A frozen drink is going to lean toward the sweet side, but at the same time I wanted it to have some balance, so that it wasn't simply a one-dimensional sugar bomb. The other week I tried my hand at making a prickly pear shrub, using a couple of pounds of prickly pear fruit I'd stored in the freezer since last fall. A shrub is an old way of storing perishable fruits in a vinegar mix to preserve the nutrition and prevent spoilage. It was a popular drink in the days predating refrigeration--think of it as old-school kombucha without the tea (although once can make shrubs with tea as well). I thought the soft, melon-like flavor would pair well with mango (I use Sunberry Farms mango juice), and I was right. But bringing added dimension and balance to the drink proved to be a pain. I tried different combinations of ingredients, but some mixes were too syrupy, others flat and one-dimensional, some unpleasantly bitter. For example, I really wanted to use lemon juice, as lemon and mango go well together, but the acidity of the lemon wasn't enough to stand out among the other ingredients. I eventually went with the more potent lime. The ginger and honey syrups added complexity and sweetness, while the white grapefruit juice and tonic brought a balancing bitterness. The coconut milk was a late addition for an improved mouthfeel. The resulting cocktail is a frosty, sweet treat, but it's not a cloying sugar bomb.

As for the mocktail's most striking quality--Anyone who's ever worked with prickly pear fruit knows the juice is an incredible magenta-burgundy color. Even the limited amount of shrub in this drink completely dominates, color-wise. To be honest, I overdid the amount of apple cider vinegar in the shrub, which is why I limit the amount to three-quarters of an ounce (more than that and the otherwise-mild vinegar flavor because a distraction). That eye-watering neon pink is completely natural. A friend observed this mocktail is the same color as American Beauty Berries, which, you know, is exactly right. Imagine the color with even more prickly pear involved!

As for the cocktail name, I have to give credit where credit is due. Thank you John Prine.

All photography by Secrets By Miss Lisa.

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What's Jayme drinking?

And it came to pass that Jayme developed another tiki mocktail recipe in the Lagoon of Mystery. He tasted it, and it was Not Good. So he tweaked it, and it was significantly less Not Good. And thus the cycle continued, until the day came where the Not was dropped from the description, and the drink could simply be described as Good.

Ha ha, you'll forgive me a little silliness. Continuing to draw on inspiration provided by Home Bar Awards' monthly challenge--Dry January alcohol-free cocktails--I have come up with another recipe suitable for sharing (and ultimately going on my home bar's menu). My goal is to have three different mocktail recipes for those who aren't imbibing alcohol to enjoy whenever they visit the Lagoon of Mystery, but the third potential recipe still has a lot of work to do and I don't have a clear idea when it will come together. Some, like Kokoleka Wai Niu, clicked fairly early from the point of concept and only needed a few minor tweaks before attaining final form. Others, like this new one here, were a bit less cooperative:

TAMBULU FIZZ
By Jayme Blaschke
2 oz. Rooibos tea (triple strangth)
2 oz. Ginger beer
1 oz. Coconut water
0.5 oz. Lime juice
0.5 oz. Tamarind syrup

Combine all ingredients in shaker with a cup of crushed ice (don't overdo the ice—remember there's no alcohol to induce melting). Shake vigorously to combine. Strain into poco grande glass and top with crushed ice. Garnish with scored lime wedge and candied ginger on a pick.

This one turned out somewhat differently than I initially envisioned, but that's all part of the creative process, isn't it? I began with the idea I'd do a frozen blender drink with coconut milk, but shelved that idea because I'd already used coconut milk in the Kokoleka Wai Niu, and didn't want to revisit the same ingredients so soon. With only a few non-alcoholic drinks on my home bar menu, I wanted a distinct diversity in flavor profile, mouthfeel and appearance.

Thinking over the classic tiki cocktails I like, César's Rum Punch stood out. I like the tartness of the drink, and used that as a guide. I wanted to use rooibos tea because of it's unusual flavor profile. I brewed it triple strength, both for flavor and to increase rooibos' generally low tannin levels. Circling back to the tart flavor profile, decided to pair the rooibos with my homemade tamarind syrup, suspecting the flavors would work well together. I added lime to boost the tartness, then ginger beer (Gosling's) for carbonation and strong ginger bite. The result was so powerful sour, and not in a good way. I tried a bunch of different juices as a buffer, but either they added too much sugar, didn't mute the acid enough, or both. Finally I hit upon using coconut water as a dilution agent and dialed back the lime. Striking the right balance took a lot of trial-and-error, so much so that I got completely sick of the drink and had to put it aside for several days. Thankfully, when I came back to it I was able to strike the right balance of all the ingredients.

The resulting cocktail is a bright, crisp effervescent drink that has a complex interplay of flavors. It's a beautiful, fruity crimson color with a lightly foaming head. The tannic and tart elements combine to suggest there may be some spirit present, which is what I was hoping for, and am delighted to have achieved in small measure. It's an imperfect illusion, to be sure, but it's gratifying to achieve so many of the goals I set for myself with this recipe.

All photography by Secrets By Miss Lisa.

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