Our man on the bar stool goes pirate at Hair of the Dog
ON SATURDAY, I NEEDED A BREAK FROM THE REMOTE control and some fresh air. I sat in the car for a few minutes and decided that the word of the day was going to be: rum.
(So, when you hear the secret word, scream real loud!)
Over the river and through the woods I went and ended up with Courtney and Goran over at one of my favorite places, The Hair of the Dog pub, which is a place where I was most likely to catch a football match on the tellie. Of course I mean football played with feet and not the kind with helmets and shoulder pads. That’s “throwball,” folks.
I sidled up to the bar and said, “Let’s play. Make something up!”
Goran fiddled about the bar selection and started dragging out the ammo.
First up, we had a nifty green number called, “Liquid Marijuana.” Now, before you think the place is run by members of the Choom Gang, this concoction does not contain any illicit narcotics. But what it does have is Captain Morgan, coconut rum, blue Curacao, melon liqueur, pinapple and sweet & sour. It is very thirst quenching.
I’ve a special fondness for Captain Morgan. It’s a classic.
The Captain is smooth and medium bodied. This spiced rum is a secret blend of Caribbean rums, mellow spice and other natural flavors.
Yum, that went down a little too easy.
Next!
After more fiddling, Goran shifted into second gear and came up with the “Halloween Vampire Cocktail.” The main ingredient in this pink (?) cocktail is Bacardi. Originated by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Cuba in 1862, Bacardi Superior is the original rum, aged between one to two years in carefully selected oak barrels. After aging, the rums are blended and passed through a second charcoal filtration. They continued to make their rum in Cuba until those godless commies ran them off in 1960, hence the slogan, “Some men get kicked out of bars, others out of countries.”
Now, this pink drink has the aforementioned Bacardi stirred up with pineapple, grenadine and cranberry juice. Spooky. I’m thinking this is more of a “Vampirella” than “Dracula.” But hey, she’s gotta enjoy endless life too.
We thought a while and decided to go all out adventure drinkin’ and eventually came up with the “Shave and a Haircut” using Sailor Jerry spiced rum.
Norman Collins (aka “Sailor Jerry”) was a tattoo artist in Hawaii and inked about everything that moved back in the day. A group of Philadelphia fans of his legendary work opened a company to make rum with his name on it.
This rum has vanilla, dry buttery toffee and subtle cinnamon notes and, like Jerry’s tattooing hand, is super smooth.
Being that this is a pub, you can’t just sit there and not have a beer so, Goran picked up a glass and made a classic Cuba Libre and then layered it up with a fine, black stout which caught the attention of more than a couple of onlookers.
This ominous beast had to sit on the bar for a minute while we just kinda stared at it and got the courage built up and lifted it to the light of the window to see which parts of it were more clear than the other.
Then after way too much debate, “clang!” Down it went.
“Heeey! That’s pretty darned good!” I exclaimed.
Yes, this was far better than clicking the remote on the sofa.
I would stay and do this again but, now “throwball” was on all the tellies.