The Smuggler’s COVID Project

Time flies when you’re having fun.

If you’re not having fun, however, time drags on. And when each day blends into the next so fluidly that you don’t know what day it is (nor does it matter), the only thing to do is add more fluid. In our case, it was rum.

Since reading Martin & Rebecca Cate’s Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki in 2019, we have been slinging Jungle Birds, Doctor Funks, Golden Guns and, of course, the trusty Mai Tai like nobody’s business. The ritual of juicing fresh citrus, making syrups from scratch, and tracking down good rum and rare ingredients make us feel like pirates, witch doctors and treasure hunters. Certainly not your garden variety COVID-induced alcoholics. No siree.

We were a couple of Captain’s Grogs in — a drink containing no less than three kinds of rum — when Kevin had an idea: “We should make every recipe in the book.”

So — did we mention there were three kinds of rum? — here we are.

We are working through 127 cocktail recipes, including the 111 recipes featured in Smuggler’s Cove as well as some well-known tiki classics and a few wild cards featured on the menu at Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Mich. (one of many sister bars to Martin Cate’s Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco), provided we can track down those recipes.

Out of respect for the Cates (and also because plagiarizing isn’t nice), we won’t share the recipes featured in Smuggler’s Cove here. The book is great and absolutely worth the money. You should buy it. However, we will talk about lots of other stuff —ingredients, availability, cost, and many other fascinating metrics and data points — and share any recipes that we’ve had to track down online as well as a few of our own that we hope you’ll enjoy.

We invite you to join us on a libatious journey of intrigue, wonder and discovery. Or at least a bit of fun.

Rock and/or roll,
Kevin & Hazel