Mar23

MxMo “Limit One” Round-Up #2

Kaiser Penguin has mixed up a few too many cocktails

The Round-Up

I thought this was going to get easier as I pushed through the dangerous waters of Mixology Monday. Oh, how I was wrong. The second round-up of three reveals “evil” cheating. People have doubled recipes to meet the 3oz requirement! I wholeheartedly approve. Mixology Monday is by no means a competition, but I was ready to give Blair the prize for his Wisdom of Pelé, because I’ve made it (and shared it with friends) about 5 times. It’s delicious, complex, and intense. But not allowing such quick defeat, Doug comes along with a barrage that might defeat an army of livers.

Chatham Artillery Punch

Doug’s Chatham Artillery Punch

This bowl of booze has a problem: it sounds delicious. It contains so much alcohol it’s too complicated to calculate. I had trouble picking a quote from Doug’s post, as so many of them were wonderful, but I finally decided on one that seems to embody the “depth” of this fine elixir: “The resulting punch is a deliciously fruity, lively, and mild-tasting tipple that could fuel a party on a trip straight to Perdition.” Oh, and the fact that Doug is willing to ship me a sealed quart of the stuff is beyond special. I feel like I should send you a small penguin. (note the wilting pineapple in the background due to the wafting of the alcohol)

Manulu Cocktail

Christian’s Manulu Cocktail

I am ashamed to say that after 7 years of German throughout high school and college, I can’t read this post. I was pleased to see Kaiser Penguin come up as “Emperor Penguin” when I Googlated it, though. Fortunately, spirits are universal. The Manulu Cocktail sounds like quite a fine exotic cocktail and one that I’ve not heard of. Anyone know the history on this one?

Baron von Tiki

Craig’s Baron von Tiki

I must say I am impressed. This may be the one exotic tipple I’ve yet to try from the Beachbum’s extensive library. Perhaps you can convince me to pick up a bottle of Stroh… is it in many other cocktails? The Baron von Tiki does contain Bärenjäger, which yearns to end its status as hermit of the liquor cabinet. It even includes lemon bitters! I’m close to convincing myself.

Tiki Puka Puka

Marleigh’s Tiki Puka Puka

Making your own mixes that include your own syrups is so intense! Marleigh, I have little doubt the tiki gods are pleased. The Tiki Puka Puka not only includes navy grog mix with a homemade spice syrup, it sports the lovely blood orange, whose season is sadly nearing its end. I could have sworn there was a Navy Grog Mix recipe in Sippin’ Safari, but I couldn’t find it… Oh, I cannot wait until all the blooming; my tiki drinks miss their usual garnish of poisonous flowers.

Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Keith’s Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

And I was just saying I didn’t know more drinks that contained that powerful Austrian spirit: Stroh. Including large passages of Monty Python movies should be a part of more cocktail blogs. Keith’s HHGoA seems innocent enough… 1oz troh, orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup. Then he floats absinthe on top! Oh, I forgot mention the bruleed cherries on the bottom of the glass; I have needed an excuse to get a new tank of butane … though I’m glad I’m not a dishwasher where he works. Huzzah!

Indian Summer

Dr. Bamboo’s Indian Summer

The Indian Summer started out with vodka and after some successful experimentation ended up containing rum instead. Wise. Wise indeed. Our ever-delightful artist turned cocktail blogger was concerned his final concoction was peeking over the tiki fence. I don’t see issue with this! That said, there really aren’t that many exotic cocktails that contain Kahlua… are there?

Jet Pilot

Robert’s Jet Pilot

Another Mixology Monday virgin! And he writes about one of my favorite tiki drinks, the Jet Pilot. Well done. To top it off, he provides an online source for Lemon Hart. Robert then goes on to quote my post on the Jet Pilot, claiming that I would happily imbibe not just one, but two Jet Pilots! What a fine idea! One of my favorite tiki mugs fits a double-Jet Pilot quite nicely. No where in the rules for this MxMo did I mention making it to work the next day …

Happy stick figures on stone

Causabon and Ian’s Ankle Breaker and Zombie

Speaking of doubles, we start off with a double Ankle Breaker, containing a whopping 5oz of 80-proof spirit. I had no idea Cruzan made a 151-proof rum; has anyone else laid their lips on this stuff? In just fashion, they move on to the Zombie, offering two recipes from the Bum. Speaking of Sippin’ Safari, does anyone not own this love tome? Because you should. Just order it now. Apparently, in due form, there is a second round of drinks for Iceland Spar, which also wins as a cool blog name. All these posts are so excellent!

Papa Doble

Dave’s Papa Doble

Ah, Hemingway. This post brings back good memories. For a time, right after college, I was employed by Penn State working on the Hemingway Letters Project. The goal was to compile all of the letters the big H wrote during his lifetime into multiple volumes. Early on, my job consisted solely of transcribing the written letters he wrote. This may sound boring, but it has actually benefited my life greatly, as I now have a Holmes-like ability to read others’ handwriting. But enough distraction; witness the Papa Doble. Dave points out something very important. Most cocktails greatly benefit from single portions. Time in the ice, coldness, and potency can all be affected by time, and a double often results in a watered down, icky drink. Tiki drinks don’t fall prey to this as easily since they have so many intense flavors, but potions with fewer ingredients and ones that aren’t laden with an iceberg-full of ice, often do.

Papa Doble

Jay’s Staggering Old Fashioned

Jay’s effort might rank as the most potent of the group… that doesn’t take 2 months to create. Nearly 6oz of death juice fills this traditional glass. As usual, such a fine endeavor contains a couple ingredients I have no easy way of acquiring in PA. This is a superb way to finish off such a wonderful selection of cocktails. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading and posting about everyone’s fine work.

KP Questions

  1. What are your thoughts on this staggered round-up? Am I going fast enough?
  2. How many of you try all of these delightful death devices?

13 Responses to “MxMo “Limit One” Round-Up #2”

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13 Comments to “ MxMo “Limit One” Round-Up #2”
  1. gilrainNo Gravatar says:

    I read each entry, but I probably wind up mixing only about a quarter of them — which is still pretty good! The quarter is what remains after filtering for what sounds good to me, and then, more importantly, what I have ingredients to make.

  2. Keep it coming! I’m loving the staggered round-up.

  3. Dr. BambooNo Gravatar says:

    I LOVE the tipsy penguin illustration!

    And the staggered round-up is fine by me…isn’t there some saying about half the fun being in the anticipation?

    And I don’t think I *could* try them all. Like you said, us Pennsylvanians have a bit of an ingredient availability issue ;-)

  4. SeanMikeNo Gravatar says:

    I’ve been excited about trying them but haven’t gotten around to them yet for various reasons.

    I like the format of the recap. I don’t mind ’em staggered but I’m an impatient guy, always wanting more!

    :-)

    Thanks again for hosting.

  5. Dave CurrieNo Gravatar says:

    Having given it a few days thought, I have mixed feelings about the staggered format. On the one hand, it is easier to read all the entries this way and not just the few that jump out at you in a post with 30 or 40 links.

    On the other hand I think that if all Mixology Mondays were this way then they wouldn’t feel like an event, there would be less pressure (the good kind) to get things done by the deadline, etc, etc. I think it would just feel less special, I suppose.

    Maybe an interesting compromise would be to stagger the roundups, but post each segment a day apart and not a week? Just an idea..

    And as to your second question, I am actually trying more of the featured drinks this way. That’s why I have mixed feelings.. :)

  6. MarleighNo Gravatar says:

    In the interest of keeping my liver for another 27 years, I bookmark the ones that catch my eye and try them at some time or another.

    Oh, and I definitely like the staggered roundup. After about fifteen entries my eyes start to glaze over, so it’s nice to have everything broken up into smaller bits.

  7. Jeff FraneNo Gravatar says:

    Cruzan 151 has been available in Oregon for yonks, which is doubly weird given that it’s a control state. I had friends in the Bay Area 25-30 years ago, who required anyone traveling through Oregon to purchase at least a case. I really can’t speak to how it tastes, because I only had it mixed into nogs or hot buttered rum but drinking it is not unlike sparring with Mike Tyson.

  8. Jay HepburnNo Gravatar says:

    I love the format of the round-up, and the staggered approach certainly makes it easier to digest now MxMO is so popular. Like Marleigh, I can be guilty of glazing over after a while. However, I agree with Dave that the breaks between posts does diminish the whole “event” aspect.

    Nonetheless, great round-up Rick! Looking forward to the next instalment…

  9. Rick,

    I love the work you’ve done on this MxMo. But the staggered roundup does give me an excuse to bring up some thoughts I’ve had about MxMo since I started blogging. I do think how you are doing it is far too measured. Rolling out the roundup in a matter of days has some things to say for itself, but over three weeks takes away from the point of a big, singular time when everyone is writing about the same thing. It also really leaves, I’m sure, the folks in the third round grinding their teeth!
    Now, you’ve done a lot of work on your roundup, and I can see how hard it would be to do it for thirty-forty posts all at once, in only a day’s time. I’m sure the pictures in particular took a while to download, crop, resize, etc. Plus, a well-written para about each posting is a LOT of work! (Especial emphasis on the “well-written” part!)

    But, since we’re discussing MxMo format, let’s open this box even further. Who is a blog carnival for, Bloggers or Readers? Much of what I see with MxMo so far is a sort of cocktail party amongst ourselves. How big a spike in traffic did you get for the first MxMo post? And how much of that can be attributed to wienies like me who kept dropping in every ten hours to see it you’ve gotten to our post yet? Don’t get me wrong, I love the social aspect of MxMo, but what more can we do with it, without losing much of anything we already like? After all, we all want more traffic. For some of you guys, your blog is a part-time job. You get ad revenue, or at least freebies. For guys like me, we are vanity bloggers; but we want traffic just as much. Readers are why we all write.

    If we are genuinely trying to reach more readers, then I have a suggestion for us all: Make the round up post be what is posted on Mixology Monday. We all put up our post’s over the weekend, Saturday if possible to give the host time to do a quality roundup, and then on Monday evening, the host puts up the round up of all posts. This does a lot for the readers: They know when to come and see the roundup, third Monday of the Month you should drop by the Cocktail Chronicles to see where the roundup is. And a single post can be bookmarked and returned to to work through the whole thing. It also gives a single place to link to. This is handy for us (for instance, I keep a listing in the sidebar of every MxMo I’ve been a part of) and it also useful in promotion. The blogosphere thrives and grows on links. A single, reliable post, that encompasses the whole set of articles, that other bloggers we all know, read, and comment on their blogs, have a place to throw us a link and perhaps pick up some regular new readers each month. Remember, we all read each others blogs (You DO read mine, right?) but most people will at best read a couple of us regularly. MxMo is our opportunity to get added to a few new RSS or bookmark lists. That’s how we grow.

    Am I totally off base?

  10. […] 25: Limit OneRick calls on us to serve up drinks that should really only be one per customer. […]

  11. […] Way back in April 2006, eight of us got together online to swap recipes and share experiences on cocktails with pastis. Now, we’re regularly drawing around 30 bloggers each month (including most of the original crew), and we’ve covered everything from aperitifs to winter warmers to cocktails that require careful supervision. […]

  12. […] 17, 2008 Host: Kaiser Penguin Topic: Limit: One Roundup Permalink: Limit: One Roundup, Chapters 1, 2 and […]

  13. […] 25: Limit OneRick calls on us to serve up drinks that should really only be one per customer. […]

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About

Kaiser Penguin is a cocktail blog featuring original recipes, homemade ingredients, classic cocktails, and tiki drinks.

Why on Earth did you name your blog “Kaiser Penguin?”

It is a well-known fact that penguins are members of high society and enjoy fine cocktails. Our very own kaiser penguin would like me to mention that he also enjoys various treats from the sea.

Contact: rick@kaiserpenguin.com