Puerto Rico launched the Piña Colada, Jamaica answered with the Tradewinds.
When it comes to drinks using cream of coconut, the Piña Colada is the king. While it was far from the first drink to use coconut cream and pineapple juice, the Piña Colada took off due to being introduced at a time when everyone had a blender. While I love this addition to our ever-growing list of kitchen must-haves (and Piña Coladas), the Tradewinds uses the blender's grandpa; the spindle mixer. You know, the things you see people use to make milkshakes. Early on, swizzle drinks were all the rage. A swizzle drink uses a swizzle stick, from the swizzle stick tree, naturally (Quararibea turbinata) to stir the drink. You place the stick between your palms and rub them back and forth to spin the stick in the drink, thereby mixing it up. A spindle mixer was, essentially, an electric swizzle stick. As you can imagine, these were insanely popular in Tiki bars where they were making hundreds of drinks per night. However, if you don't have a spindle mixer, you can get by with a blender. The key is to be sure that you don't blend it too long. It shouldn't be a frozen drink but liquid with small pieces of ice.
The flavor of this is heavily influenced by your rum choice as the Tradewinds can go from funky spice to creamy sweet depending upon the rums and the sweetness of the apricot liqueur you choose. In fact, in a pinch, I once used peach brandy in place of the apricot liqueur and ended up full on orange creamsicle!
Tradewinds
Source - Martin Cate, Smuggler's Cove
1 ounce lemon juice
1 1/2 coconut cream syrup
1 ounce natural apricot liquor²
1 ounce black rum*
1 ounce blended lightly aged rum*
Add all of your ingredients into a drink mixer tin. Add 12 ounces of crushed ice and flash blend in the spindle mixer. Gated pour into a footed pilsner glass. Garnish is a lemon wedge, speared to a paper umbrella flipped inside out.
² Martin Cate of Smuggler's Cove recommends Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur or Giffard Abricot du Roussillon)
*Bamboo Sam's customizations: As with most Tiki drinks the choice of rum makes all the difference. Lately, I've been using Bacardi Black and Appleton Estate Signature Blend. However, Cruzan Black Strap and El Dorado 3 Year make it an entirely different drink. Variety is the spice of life...
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