Gin is finding its way into more and more cocktails as fall turns to winter, and absinthe isn’t far behind. The lonely bottle of falernum sits idly in the refrigerator, begging me to make another tiki drink, but I’ve found other uses for it …

Le Demon Vert

1 1/2oz gin (used Plymouth)
1/2oz absinthe (I used [...]

I am totally amazed how the Test Pilot has evolved since my post about it over a year ago. The first time I made it, I used the following recipe:

Test Pilot

1/2oz lime juice
1/2oz falernum
1/2oz Cointreau
1 dash Angostura bitters
1/8t Pernod
3/4oz light Puerto Rican rum
1 1/2oz dark Jamaican rum

Blend with 1c crushed ice for 5 seconds, [...]

I have had quite the love and hate relationship with the Pearl Diver’s Punch this week. 100% of the hate comes from making it and 100% of the love comes from drinking it.

This drink, simply put, is the Thomas Keller of exotic cocktails. For those of you not familiar with the joys of [...]

My goal this post is to motivate those of you who haven’t made falernum or cinnamon syrup to do so. Neither takes the obligatory month and a half like pimento dram. In fact, if you were to start a batch of each after work on Friday, you’d be sipping this cocktail Saturday evening.
Cinnamon [...]

Saturday Recap
12:01am - Gretchen and I were sitting in the lobby of Hotel Monteleone eating awesome pralines from the Southern Candy Makers. More importantly, there was a peanut butter-filled Ritz cracker sandwich coated entirely in bittersweet chocolate. Before long, Chuck and Wesley showed up and joined us in the comfy seats. The [...]

I arrived home to find an Amazon box nestled lovingly up against my garage door, like it had found its true home. What occurred next was me moving faster than I have in probably two years. I grabbed a knife at random from the block and tore into the box with fevered intensity. [...]

It was wonderful to see so many de-lurkers show their faces on Kaiser Penguin. I thought it was going to be easy giving away the three copies of Intoxica!, but you all submitted such tasty recipes and made the comment section fun and informative. So, I will be selecting three of you at [...]

I haven’t discussed, let alone imbibed, nearly anything this summer that didn’t contain copious amounts of rum. Tiki culture, and its cocktails specifically, have seduced me to the point of no return. Saying that, I have no intention of turning Kaiser Penguin into a tiki-only blog, as I’m sure the first brisk winds [...]

I keep finding myself picking up Imbibe over and over again, leafing through to find something I haven’t read yet. If it isn’t obvious by now, I’ve definitely subscribed; I’ve always found it amazing how much joy you can get out of less than $20 when it comes to magazine subscriptions. It’s time to [...]

If I haven’t already said this in another post, you absolutely must pick up a copy of Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log. For $10, it’s the quintessential tiki book purchase. Grog Log is filled fun tiki drawings, great information on tiki culture and history, not to mention an excellent section on rum. Most [...]