The Cocktail Napkin – Dark Oasis, et al

Editor
06/02/2019 06:47 AM (update 04/11/2023 01:44 AM)

By Jo Petteruti, Mixologist and Owner, Jo's Stillwater Tea Room

Did you know that Rum is being reinvigorated these days? After years of a less than robust interest in this spirit, cocktail crafters are now finding new and fun ways to serve this spirit. Some fascinating cocktails can be concocted with flavored rums as well as those with a smokey finish, and you will find a few of them at the Tea Room – including our Dark Oasis.

As a matter of statistics, the total rum sales in 2018 actually slipped by 1% - which when being measured by millions of 9-liter cases, can add up to quite a bit. However, Bacardi, Captain Morgan and Malibu brands are the top three sellers in the U.S.

We have discussed the history of rum in a prior Cocktail Napkin on Hot Toddies, so I won't go into that again in this column. Instead, let's look at the top three brands in a little more detail.

• Bacardi was founded in 1862 in Cuba and has remained a family-owned corporation ever since. They have a presence on four different continents with headquarters in Bermuda and have developed a portfolio of over 200 brands and labels. As it is readily available at most every place here in Fallon, we chose not to carry it at the Tea Room.

• Captain Morgan Spiced Rum was originally produced in 1944 by the Seagram Company in Canada. It was introduced to the US in 1984 and quickly became the second best rum seller. In 2001, Seagram sold the Captain Morgan brand to Diageo, a major liquor house, who then built a new distillery in St.Croix Virgin Islands just for that brand. The Tea Room uses this spirit in our Capt. Cook Mule, a spiced rum version of the Moscow Mule.

• Malibu Rum is imported from Barbados by Pernod Ricard. The original and most popular flavor is Coconut, but it is also now made in other flavors such as banana, mango and pineapple. This spirit was originally made by International Distillers and Vintners located in Curacao. But its popularity forced the company to move its operations to Barbados. Here, the brand was distilled by West Indies Rum Distillery who improved the quality of the ingredients. In 2002, it too was sold to Diageo, but then resold in 2005 to Pernod Ricard. The Tea Room uses Malibu Coconut Rum in a few of our cocktails - the Pina Colada, Summer Sky, and today's recipe, the Dark Oasis.

The Dark Oasis is a Tea Room original recipe that we've been told tastes like an Almond Joy or a Tootsie Roll candy bar. It's served in a coupe (martini-style) cocktail glass with a sidecar (a little carafe) and the ice from the mix in a rocks glass on the side. We include the ice for you as it's already flavored. It can be added back into the cocktail, or you may decide to drink some on the rocks. Some customers even use the rocks glass with ice as a little ice bucket by placing the sidecar on top of the ice. Any way you chose, you have a cocktail with options...

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur

• 2 oz Malibu Coconut Rum

• 2 oz Pineapple Juice

• Dried Pineapple chunks for the garnish

Preparation:

• Chill a coupe glass.

• Add a good scoop of ice to a cocktail shaker, then pour in all liquid ingredients.

• Cover and shake well until icy cold.

• Strain the shaker's ingredients into the glass, filling it about two-thirds of the way. Strain the rest into the sidecar then add the ice into a rocks glass.

• Garnish with a toothpick skewer of dried pineapple chunks.

Sip and enjoy it responsibly... Ciao!

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