The toast to the Goldilock couldn’t be too sweet, or too bitter. No, it had to be just right. It actually evolved from a cocktail competition which asked participants to create a “stirred tiki” cocktail. Tiki can be hard to define but typically and historically includes rum, fruit juices, and exotic flavors like almond and allspice. Classically these types of drinks are shaken, so to create a stirred version would likely require excluding the actual juice while retaining the flavors somehow. This drink actually popped into my head while I was enjoying a Whole Foods White chocolate ginger and turmeric candy cup. I thought, whoa, this is would make a delicious Old Fashioned, and it’s tiki.

The basic template for an Old Fashioned is 2 ounces of bourbon or other whiskey and a little sweetener. I split the boozy base with bourbon and a pineapple rum, and then relied on the syrup to bring all those other flavors into the mix. The “Golden Tiki” syrup takes some work but is so delicious. Feel free to be like Goldielocks and add just a little less, or a little more syrup, until your drink is just right. Cheers!

Golden Oldie

1 bourbon

1 oz Plantation pineapple rum

½ oz clarified Golden Tiki syrup

2 dashes chocolate bitters

Golden Tiki syrup: mix 3:1 Golden syrup (see below) with almond orgeat; strain through a cheesecloth or milk bag

Golden syrup: add ½ cup ginger juice plus ½ cup turbinado sugar to a sauce pan with a cinnamon stick, 8 black peppercorns, and ¼ tsp turmeric and heat to combine. Simmer a few minutes then cool, strain and bottle.

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a glass that’s just right. Garnish with a lime peel palm tree. Cheers!