Pineapple Fantardi

It’s another travel day so it’s another opportunity to get “creative” with the drink of the day and see what I can create with what’s available.  (Flying from the main island of Tongatapu up to the northern island of Vava’u) Knowing that I’d have a few days on this trip where I’d be out of range of any bars or places that serve alcohol, I stopped at a store yesterday and picked up a couple small bottles that I could stick in my luggage… so here I am at the domestic airport waiting lounge and what do I find but a bottle of Pineapple Fanta – perfect with some rum!

How to make a Pineapple Fantardi (Fanta + Bacardi = Fantardi):

• Bacardi Rum
• Pineapple flavored Fanta

Drink Tip: Besides making do with what you have while travelling this makes a great travel drink because as far as anybody can tell you’re just drinking a bottle of soda… albeit a very pale looking soda after you empty half the bottle to make room for the rum…

Me with my brother Chris... and yup, I'm wearing the same shirt from yesterday... it's one of those trips 🙂

Pacific Mai Tai

I’m back again in the same bar as yesterday and having another pre-mixed drink of the day.  For today’s drink we’re going with the Pacific Mai Tai… their website describes it as “a tropical holiday without the fear of deep vein thrombosis”… I guess I can’t take full advantage of the benefits of this drink since I flew almost half-way ’round the world to take a sip of this frozen treat…

Pacific Mai Tai ingredients:

• Premium New Zealand Vodka
• Coconut Juice
• Pineapple Juice
• Lime Juice

Drink Tip: Add some rum to the drink.. why? …why not… just trust me on this one.

Passionfruit Caprioska

Still in Tonga on the main island of Tongatapu so I headed over to a local bar in Nuku’alofa called Reload for my drink of the day. I love the bar’s non-committal slogan “probably the best bar in Tonga“… they think they’re pretty good but don’t want to overstate or mislead anybody so “we’re probably the best bar but maybe we’re not…”

Making this easy so I have a blended pre-made Passionfruit Caprioska, not bad, it is what it is… ya know, probably the best drink in the house… or not… just sayin’… Like yesterday’s drink this is also imported from New Zealand BUY HERE

Passionfruit Caprioska ingredients:

• Premium New Zealand Vodka
• Passionfruit Juice
• Lemon Juice
• Lime Juice

Drink Tip: A pre-mix is fine in a pinch but it doesn’t hurt to add a little something extra of your own…

Mata Maka

I’m in Tonga so it makes sense that I have a local Tongan brew as my drink of the day… well, sort of local.  It’s a Tongan beer that’s only available in Tonga but is actually brewed and imported from New Zealand… no breweries here in Tonga so this is as close as it gets to a domestic beer.

Drink Tip: Tonga shuts down on Sundays so if it’s Sunday and you’re out of beer then you’re out of luck… or are you? Just do what I did, find a Chinese restaurant…

Smugglers Bounty

Arrived in Fiji yesterday and like most trips I take, I don’t do a whole lot of pre-planning… I arrived in the country and hadn’t booked a hotel or even researched places to stay, just hopped in a cab and asked him to take us somewhere. So of course he took us over to one of the luxury hotels in Denarau.  Really nice place but too expensive , too family friendly (lot’s of families with little kids), and lastly… why visit another country if your just going to wall yourself up in an all-inclusive resort with other tourists?  So today we found a place less… well, just less (less money, amenities, and kids.)   Of cours it’s still a hotel for tourists but in cheap places you seem to have a little more contact with locals…

…anyway, to make a long story short the place we’re staying in tonight is called Smugglers Cove so what better drink to have for the drink of the day than a Smugglers Bounty!

Smugglers Bounty recipe:

• Bounty Rum
• Orange Juice
• Coco Cream
• Cherry

Drink Tip: It’s OK for a guy to have a little umbrella in his drink if one or all of the following criteria are met… tiki torches – check, grass huts/umbrellas – check, palm trees – check, an ocean view – check!

Bounty Rum & Cola

As it reads on the label “ready to drink” … now that’s the way they should make more drinks! How convenient would that be?  Just think about it, you make a quick stop at 7-11 and grab a 40 of gin martini (olives floating right in the bottle) or or a six pack of Mai Tai’s.  My next BBQ I’d like to tap a keg of Long Island Iced Tea… now that would be a gathering you’d never forget… if you could remember!

Can’t give the recipe since it’s “ready to drink” and I’m not sure if it’s only sold in Fiji but I found a website that sells it: http://www.pmeghji.com/product_info.php/products_id/339

Drink Tip: Ignore the snarky “starting early today” comment from the receptionist as you stroll through the hotel lobby at 10am sipping your tasty Bounty beverage… I’m on holiday beeyatch!

Fijian Warrior

Arrived in Fiji today so what better way to celebrate the drink of the day than with a Fijian Warrior! No, I’m not constipated, that’s my warrior face…

How to be a Fijian Warrior:

• Dark Rum
• Dark Crème de Cacao
• Crème de Bananas
• Lime Juice
• Grenadine
• Cola

Drink Tip: Great drink to cool off and wash down that Methodist missionary you just ate…

Mile High Fruit Cup drink recipe

Mile High Fruit Cup

OK, so I got a little creative with my drink (I’m travelling so you’ll probably see some more “creative” drinks over the next couple weeks.)  The plan was to get to the airport (LAX) early and park my ass at the bar and enjoy the drink of the day… Well, lets just say the plan didn’t work out so I had to concoct a drink on the airplane from my in-flight snack and the limited selection of nips available.  But hey, who knows, after a few of these maybe you’ll have the opportunity to join some other mile high club 😉

Mile High Fruit Cup Recipe:

• Diet Coke
• Vodka
• Garnish with whatever fruit you’ve got

Drink Tip: The fruit is what gives the drink its name… feel free to mix and match whatever is available from the drink cart! Oh, and you have to wait until you’re at least a mile high…

Horney Grandma

One of the challenges when I’m having my “drink of the day” while out at a restaurant or bar is finding something unique that I haven’t had yet this year.  When I explain to the bartender or waiter my “different drink every day for an entire year” resolution and ask if they have a unique house special or something local that you don’t find anywhere else… some will be helpful and get creative in coming up with something but most… eh, not so much.  Most will say they  don’t know… whatever is in the menu… and that’s where we got today’s horney grandma – in the menu.  Why on earth would you ever put a horney grandma in the menu?  Other than someone like me, who is looking for the most obscure drink listed, would ever say “Ahhh yeah, I think I ‘ll go for the horney grandma.”  I realize “horney” part is a play off of the Hornitos tequila used but why did you have to drag grandma into this?

Horney Grandma margarita recipe:

• Hornitos Silver Tequila
• Triple Sec
• Grand Marnier (maybe the “grand” is where they got grandma…? But c’mon they must be something else that is grand that you can pair with horney!)

Drink Tip: Go ahead, try your best when ordering but when I tried to be funny with the cute waitress when ordering the horney grandma… I got no-reaction-at-all… yeah….

Vodka Soda

OK, so unlike yesterday’s fruity drink, it doesn’t get much more simple and manly than this… (well, remove the lime and ice and pour the whole thing into a whiskey glass.)  Do I even need to provide the ingredients for this drink? OK, for you maybe I do….

Ingredients for a vodka soda:

• Vodka
• Soda

Drink Tip: Mess with the bar waitress… ask for a vodka soda but “…instead of vodka can I get rum and for the soda I’ll have Coke.”