Featured Recipe: Tradewinds

Tradewinds -

​As the weather continues to warm, Autumn and I have recently been craving fruity, coconutty blended drinks.  Maybe we’re just feeling nostalgic to our trip to Belize (where every drink has an element of coconut).

This weekend, we tried the Tradewinds cocktail – a light, citrusy, and coconut-infused tiki cocktail that nicely balances the tastes of rum, fruit, and rich coconut cream.  It’s an odd mix of heavy and light simultaneously, which makes it a perfect cocktail for warm pseudo-summer nights.

​The following feature will provide the historical context of the drink, necessary ingredients, and steps for making it at home.  We’ve also provided the Wayward Spirits Twist on the cocktail, if you are feeling especially coco-nutty!  

Cocktail History: 

Full Disclosure:  In my research, I did not find a whole lot of information about the Tradewinds Cocktail.

What we do know is that the cocktail hails from the Caribbean in the 1970’s (on the tail-end of the tiki craze) and was originally a party or punch drink made in large quantities.

Luckily, the recipe was preserved and adapted in Jeff “Beachbum” Berry Remixed, which provides instructions on how to make it as a punch.  The following recipe has been adjusted to produce a single serving of the Tradewinds cocktail and adapted to add a hint more coconut.
 
Recipe/ Instructions

Glassware:  Tiki Mug (tall) or Collins/Zombie Glass

Ingredients:

• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• 3 oz Coconut Cream (homemade is best, but Coco Lopez will suffice)
• 1 oz natural apricot liqueur (we use Rothman & Winter apricot liqueur)
• 1 oz black blended rum (we use Bacardi Black)
• 1 oz lightly aged rum (we use Mount Gay Eclipse)

Coconut Cream Recipe (if needed):

1. One 13.5 oz can of Thai Kitchen Unsweetened Coconut Milk (not the “Lite” variety), or you can use Chaokoh Coconut Milk for a thicker and creamier finish
2. Scoop the coconut cream and milk out of the can into a mixing bowl
3. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt
4. Mix well with immersion or hand blender until the coconut cream and milk are well blended.
5. Add 13.5 oz of 2:1 simple syrup (using the empty coconut milk can as a measuring cup)
6. Mix well with an immersion or hand blender until the coconut milk and simple syrup are well blended
7. Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 weeks

Cocktail Steps:
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake with ice.  Strain into glass over crushed ice.  Alternatively, you can also flash blend this cocktail with ice for a “slushier” feel

Garnish:
Lemon wedge speared with an inside-out cocktail umbrella (obviously blown open by the mighty tradewinds)
 
Wayward Spirits Rating and Twist:
Overall Score – 4
The Tradewinds is truly a delicious summertime cocktail, balancing the flavors of citrus, coconut, and fruit.  The drink starts with a citrusy nose, and leads to a rich coconut and apricot finish, giving the drink a unique savory experience.

Even though we adjusted our recipe to double the amount of coconut cream, we still felt like the drink did not have enough coconut flavor and leaned a bit too heavy into the taste of rum and lemon.

​As a twist, try replacing the lightly aged rum with a light Puerto Rican rum (such as Bacardi Superior White Rum), and scaling the lemon juice back by a quarter ounce.  This may help bring the coconut forward in the drink.