Aku Aku
Recipe:
- 5 chunks (1-inch-square) fresh pineapple
- 8 mint leaves
- 30ml fresh lime juice
- 15ml demerara syrup (SC recipe)
- 15ml peach liqueur
- 45ml blended lightly aged rum
Muddle the pineapple chunks in your shaker, add the remaining ingredients, add 12 ounces of crushed ice (I personally use bigger chunks of cracked ice) and flash blend (or hard shake) for 10 seconds. Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with some mint leaves.
Sort of a special riff on the Missionary's Downfall, as a cleaner, more simple coupe drink, from the famous Smuggler's Cove book. I also prefer to hardshake it on cracked ice (instead of crushed), for a little less water, like to use a Banks 7 according to SC's own categorization, as well as in this case here a French vintage peach liqueur. On the nose, pure freshness in the form of mint, sugar cane and pineapple. Tasting you first get light toffee notes from the rum, pineapple, mint and nicely integrated: the quite delicate peach note in the final third, of course also depends heavily on the liqueur. Forms a nice transition from the pineapple, full of character, to the fresh mint, in the finish then again more sugar cane juice and lemongrass.
Source: "Smuggler's Cove" - Martin & Rebecca Cate, p. 39
