 THE RECIPE
2oz. 504Gold 1oz. Pineapple Habanero Syrup 1oz. Lemon Juice 1oz. Orange Juice Add ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with lemon slice, if desired. THE STORY After shutting down the tasting room and securing their own homes, our incredible team scattered across the Gulf Coast, some staying in the city and some evacuating ahead of Hurricane Ida's landfall in New Orleans. Product Development Specialist Parker spent the week on the beach a few states over, which proved to be the perfect atmosphere for cocktail creation. (Seriously, he came back with a notebook full of new cocktails ideas - we can't wait to share them all with you!) The Surf Slap is brought to you by salty air, sandy toes, suntans, and the sensation of waves slapping against every step towards the sea. The Surf Slap, along with an endless list of upcoming cocktail releases, arrived with the inspiration of solace from the storm. It might not be the shoreside vacay you're craving, but we hope each sip of the Surf Slap offers some refreshing satisfaction, however momentary.
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 THE RECIPE 1oz 504Gold 1oz 504Silver 1oz orange juice 1oz lime juice 1oz hibiscus syrup 1 dash Peychauds bitters 1 dash tiki bitters Shake vigorously in a cocktail shaker and strain into a hurricane glass (if you have one on hand) over ice. Serves 1. Enjoy. HOW TO MAKE THE HIBISCUS SYRUP Add equal parts water and sugar to a sauce pot. Add one scoop of dried hibiscus petals, lime peel, and one cinnamon stick. Heat until just before boiling. Turn off the heat and let it steep for one hour, stirring every ten minutes. Strain. Let it cool. Mix it in a cocktail and store the rest in an airtight container or Mason jar until the next use! THE STORY We rolled out this deceptively easy special cocktail in honor of a New Orleans Chamber of Commerce pop-up held on June 3rd in our tasting room! Despite the name, it was truly a breath of fresh air to greet and network with professional colleagues and friends after a long year and a half of exclusive Zoom calls and our new-found reliance on blue light glasses. (They're both trendy and effective!) On the other hand, our team has been pushing through for weeks and we're exhausted. We hope your team and ours will whip up a batch of hibiscus syrup in a beach hut somewhere soon and sip on this cocktail all week. In our separate huts...to be clear. We love you guys, but we need quiet to appreciate this.
 THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold .25oz. Simple Syrup 5 shakes Chili Bitters (or more if you're feelin' extra spicy) Pour all ingredients in a rocks glass, either neat or over ice. Stir and enjoy. HOW TO MAKE CHILI BITTERS Ingredients 2 cups clear rum (we recommend 504Silver) 16 habanero peppers, quartered and dried (seeds in) 2 limes, sliced and dried 8 allspice berries, crushed 6 espresso beans 4 whole cloves, crushed 2 tablespoons molasses 1 cinnamon stick, crushed Infuse all ingredients in rum for two weeks. Strain and bottle. THE STORY We love spicy drinks. On our back patio, we're always growing some variety of hot peppers. Currently, habaneros are beginning to ripen. (Many of our staff members have green thumbs and successfully grow cayennes, jalapeños, poblanos, and various other peppers and herbs successfully - remember that post we did earlier this spring about planting a cocktail garden?) Our menu has previously featured spicy daquiris and other spicy cocktails, but we wanted something simple to highlight the flavor of our rum with just a small kick - an Old Fashioned seemed like the right opportunity. We use smoked chilis in the bitters we make, which complements the oaky flavor of 504Gold so well. This twist on the old fashioned is our new favorite - if the thought of making bitters on your own terrifies you, stop in to try our version in the tasting room!
 THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold 1oz. Ginger simple syrup 1oz. lime juice 5 dashes smoked chili bitters Shake ingredients with ice, strain into rocks glass. Serves 1. How to make ginger syrup: 1 cup ginger root, peeled & sliced 1 cup sugar 1 cup water Add all to pot and simmer for five minutes. Let steep for 30 minutes. Strain. Store any remaining syrup in a lidded container for later use. THE STORY
Meagen & Mark are away, so the bartenders get to play! Our lovely tasting room tender April was tasked with concocting thematically appropriate St. Patrick's Day specials for our partnership with Shamrock Our Block & Paved Paradise, and she DELIVERED! The spicy chili combined with the rich ginger syrup give this cocktail a kick appropriate for the occasion. Aptly named the Leapin' Leprechaun, this cocktail will make you jump right out of your seat - and perhaps send you on your way to finding some gold at the end of the rainbow.  THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold 1oz. lemon juice 1oz. raw sugar simple syrup lemon sparkling water Mix in a glass of your choice (cause we're not fancy here) and top with sparkling water of the lemon variety. We prefer La Croix. Garnish with mint for a welcome touch of freshness on a hot day. THE STORY Some of our most popular cocktails by a landslide are the simplest things we make, and this one is sure to be no exception. This take on a Tom Collins (usually made with gin) is a newcomer, but it's everything that's good and easy about spring. It's quick to make, lovely to look at, and has just that little touch of something special to elevate your weekday, post-work, whip-something-up-for dinner kind of evening. If you love our Sister Suffragette (which pops its head up to remind us to vote), you'll love this.
 THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold 6oz. black coffee 1/2 oz. pumpkin spice 1 dash of chocolate bitters 1 dash of chicory bitters Add creamer if desired Add ice to a collins glass (like we did) or whatever you have around. Pour ingredients over ice. Stir and enjoy! THE STORY
How did this one take us so long?! More than one of our customers took one look at the 504Gold and said "you've got to make a cocktail for the Saints!". There's no better time than a playoff game during the 2020-2021 season. The kick from the coffee and bitters make this the perfect addition to your cocktail menu after an afternoon of tailgating with beers from your own front yard (or however you're celebrating), and the pumpkin spice adds a layer of depth perfect for the crisp feeling of football season. We had our own showdown between this cocktail and a fruity, funky, red-colored "Brady Basher" in our tasting room. Naturally, the Black and Gold won.  THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold 1oz. raw sugar simple syrup 4 slices lemon 8 or 9 large mint leaves Put lemon and mint in shaker. Add simple syrup and muddle together. Add rum and ice to your shaker. Shake vigorously and double strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with lemon. Serves 1. THE STORY The Sister Suffragette was a tasting room special that we released in that month-long period between coronavirus closures in honor of our 3rd of July Drop-In. This quickly became a top 5 favorite of our co-founder Meagen and a bestseller at the bar with our guests. Since this recipe requires muddling lemons and mint, it's harder to adapt as one of our 32oz. cocktails for pick up. We're working on a version that can be pre-batched, but in the meantime these are fun and easy to make at home. The zip from the lemon and light, cool refreshment of the mint, not to mention the richness of the 504Gold, make it on of our favorite drinks of the summer. As a reminder, Happy Raptor is honoring every "I Voted" sticker or selfie outside your polling station this election season with a FREE boozy freeze pop. #GeauxVote! **A note from our co-founder Meagen because it's important: Mary Poppins is clearly a masterpiece and one of my favorite movies of all time. This little musical number inspired the name of our dainty yet punchy cocktail and it's all very charming. HOWEVER, the suffragette movement (while extremely important) also left behind - and set a precedent that continues to leave behind - women of color. As for us, delicious rum cocktails should never leave anyone behind even if they do have a cute name. If you're reading a bunch of disruptive and interesting books about our society while waiting for covid to pass (me too), check out White Feminism by my friend Koa Beck upcoming this Spring (!!).**  THE RECIPE 2oz. 504Gold 4oz. Pineapple Juice 1oz. Orange Juice 1oz. Cream of Coconut Dash of nutmeg Fill your shaker with ice. Shake until icy cold and strain into a Collins glass over ice. Garnish with a cherry. (We like maraschino cherries for a little tiki fun.) Serves 1. THE STORY It was our pleasure to partner with the wonderful, artful Krewe of Krampus to release this old tiki favorite, the Painkiller. This is a recipe that our CEO and Head Distiller loves and has experimented with for years. He makes them at home and forces everyone to try the new recipe. Hard life, right? Until his wife says, "Oh no. Not another painkiller". Well, on July 25th at 7PM the Krewe of Krampus will celebrate their annual German Luau - and it's the perfect opportunity to debut this gorgeous cocktail. A traditional tiki drink with the light, beachy familiarity of pineapple, orange, and coconut, we call it the Schmerzmittel in honor of the event. That's German for "painkiller". According to wordreference.com. Because we don't speak German.
Don't feel like making one yourself? We get it. They're available for pick up in our tasting room through Saturday, and we'll be hosting a short cocktail demo during the luau! See you there! 
THE RECIPE
2oz, 504Gold 5 dashes of angostura bitters 5 dashes of orange bitters 1/2 spoonful of cherry juice Add ice to your rocks glass. Stir. Top with a cherry (we prefer Luxardo cherries at home #fancy). Serves 1.
THE STORY
This is the only cocktail in our tasting room that people get oddly mad about before they try it. Faithful old-fashioned drinkers are used to the more familiar bourbon or whiskey, of course. Some die-hard guests don't believe it's a true old-fashioned without orange juice, to which our staff imagines them suddenly donning a top hot like the dad in Peter Pan and exclaiming "Poppycock! Pish Tosh! But there must be orange juice, old boy!".
Here's the thing, y'all. It's delicious. Our 504Gold rum makes all the difference and offers a really lovely and welcome alternative to the super floral notes of the (equally wonderful) 504Hibiscus. Aged for only two weeks on oak chips, the 504Gold captures the essence of a rum that has been barrel-aged for much longer, and brings in the familiar, warming notes of a drier spirit like whiskey, but with that noted depth and slight sweetness of handcrafted Louisiana rum to round out the flavor. If you love an old-fashioned, you will love this. We promise.
Want to know more? Here's a video on how to make it: |