Cocktail Sundays: Hondo Ohnaka's Space Punch

 

Before anyone says anything, yes, I have intended to do these cocktail things more frequently. The thing is is that I like to be able to do a whole photo thing of making the cocktail (like in the previous cocktail post), but it's winter so the lighting in my house is shit. No, wait, the lighting in my house is shit but, during the summer, enough light comes in through the skylight for me to be able to take pictures in my dim little cave. During the winter, though... well, it's dim in here all the time. Basically, I haven't been able to take photos, so I have been reluctant to do anymore cocktail posts.

But I have this new cocktail that I've come up with that I really like, so you're getting a picture of Hondo, since that's cocktail appropriate. I suppose you don't really need the pictures of me putting the drink together, anyway.

First, some background:

As I've mentioned, my wife got me this book, Smuggler's Cove, and we've been experimenting with the cocktails. It's been a lot of fun trying the different cocktails and inventing my own. Part one of this cocktail came from one called "Center of the Galaxy," which was inspired by the discovery that a primary chemical compound in the center of our galaxy has a raspberry flavor and the smell of rum. However, I didn't particularly care for the cocktail. Well, it's a fine cocktail; it's not like it was bad; it just didn't really do it for me.

Once we'd tried the "Center of the Galaxy," it just kind of sat around in the back of my head: you know, good concept, poor execution. Then I re-happened upon a cocktail called "Hondo Hattie's Jungle Punch," a cocktail appropriately created for Disney for some party or other related to their jungle ride. As a side note, Hattie's cocktail contains Velvet Falernum, an alcohol I don't really care for except in this particular drink.

I don't think I should need to go into any long explanation about what happened next. Let's just say it was clear to me that Ohnaka needed his own punch, being a space pirate and all -- and you know about pirates and rum -- and I set about to make it.

And I did, too!

I'm pretty sure my wife thought I was crazy through this whole process but, then, she doesn't understand Hondo Ohnaka, one of the best side characters in the Star Wars universe. The drink did take a lot of editing... um, wait... revisions...? Permutations!? I'm going to go with permutations. Here is what I settled on:

Hondo Ohnaka's Space Punch

1oz lemon juice

1oz cinnamon syrup

1/2oz curacao

1/4oz tawny port

1/2oz velvet falernum

1/4oz raspberry liqueur

1/2oz Licor 43

1/4oz allspice liqueur

2oz Eclipse (the rum)

2 dashes of angostura bitters

This is, actually, my favorite drink at the moment, not just some, "Yeah, this is okay," kind of thing. "Yeah, this is okay" drinks are fine and all of that. You have to have some of those just to mix it up some and to remind you why it is you like your favorite drinks. This one is well above that for me and is going to end up being something I keep the ingredients around for all the time.

Which is saying something because, as I stated, I don't care for Velvet Falernum, and I also don't like tawny port. Before I came up with this drink, I had planned to not buy those two things again. Further proof that sometimes things you don't like can work together to make something really good.

Now if my kids would just figure out that vinegar works the same way...