Cocktail #14: Eric's Headhunter

My family is from the Boston, Massachusetts area so even though I grew up in New Jersey, I often visited Boston. My first "tiki palace" experience was when I was about 5 years old at the venerable Kowloon's in Saugus, MA about 15 minutes from Boston, to which I would return often. Built in 1950, it is (or maybe was) something like the 3rd or 4th largest restaurant in terms of seating in the country with about 1,200 seats. The interior is amazing - there are working volcanoes, a fountain surrounded by tables (I think the volcano sat on an island in the fountain). The walls are covered with Polynesian pop art and decor. The food, which is American Chinese and "Thai" is nothing to write home about, I'm sorry to say. But you don't go to a tiki palace for the food - it's an experience.

By chance, I was checking out the sale at the Edgewater Antique Mall which is a 10 minute bike ride from my apartment, and found this tiki mug from none other than Kowloon's in Saugus, MA!

In honor of this find, I tried to find a drink menu from Kowloon's online and try my hand at replicating one of their exotic cocktails. I didn't find anything comprehensive - a page here or there, so I decided to just go completely off book this week and basically create my own drink. This cocktail is based on what I understand to be the New England version of the Headhunter. Jeff Berry has a Headhunter recipe in the Grog Log which he attributes to bartender Manny "Blackie" Andal of the Hawaii Kai restaurant, New York City, 1960s. However, that recipe is much different from the Headhunters I've drank at Chinese restaurants in New England. I did find one recipe of the "New England" Headhunter a while ago online, but details are not great. So I decided to use that as a starting point and create my version of the Headhunter:

1.00 oz. Coco Lopez coconut cream

1.00 oz. fresh lime juice

2.00 oz. pineapple juice

1.00 oz. Haitian Rhum Barbancourt

1.50 oz. white Virgin Islands rum

0.50 oz. Curacao

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with crushed ice. Add all the ingredients to the cocktail shaker and shake for at least 10 seconds. Fill a tiki mug 1/4 of the way with crushed ice and pour the contents of the cocktail shaker unstrained into the tiki mug.

For the garnish, I used a one I learned about recently from a garnish tutorial done by the good folks at Chicago's Lost Lake. I used a green cocktail umbrella and cut parts out of it so that it resembled a palm tree. I then stuck the pick into a piece of a cinnamon stick for the palm tree trunk, and speared that to a piece of pineapple which floated on top of my drink that resembled the beach. I also skewered a lime wheel with a cocktail sword that had fresh cherry juice on it - you can't have a headhunter without some blood! Finally, I added some mint sprigs to the cocktail since our garden is overflowing with mint! It also adds a nice bouquet each time you sip.

This cocktail goes down easy. The coconut cream, lime, and pineapple juices meld really well together. The Rhum Barbancourt, which is produced from sugar cane juice rather than molasses, makes for a really smooth taste. It really is a delightful rum and this is one of my favorite exotic cocktails. 

I thought this track would go well with this drink - "Honorable Hong Kong Rock" by the Out-Islanders! Check it out! Cheers!