Tried the rose shaped ice today. Got the molds recently after seeing them in a bar in Halcyon.

Brynn used this ice in Cherry Street Pub to make a drink with Sharmila. A rose shaped ice! I need to get myself one of these!!

During the heydays of gin research, I had experimented with nearly 50 different gins procured from very different countries. Gin and tonic is still Sharmila’s favorite drink. Whereas I have proceeded to experiment with other alcohols like mezcal.

This gin is really good. Got a very unique, soft and sweet aromatic nose. The botanicals are mostly local. Interestingly, it has Yaqona – which is used to make Kava. The native ginger Layalaya, “ugly lemon” Moli Kula and fresh curry leaves add some nice tones to the palate.

The juniper berries are not grown in Fiji though. They are brought in from Macedonia.

Not sure if this is easy to procure in the USA, but I highly recommend it, if you can get a bottle.

This is vodka with orange juice and cranberry juice. Need to find out the root of the name.

It is basically an “El Presidente” except that instead of white rum, I used Guatemalan Ron Zacapa rum. The other two ingredients are orange liqueur and dry vermouth.

It is not coming thru well – but there is my personal logo on the ice. Need to take the bubbles out of the ice to make it more easily visible… Between my nephew and me, I think we spent 30 minutes trying to get some good pictures. I almost forgot to drink the drink!!

Today was a mocktail day. Need to stay away from alcohol for a bit due to the throat surgery. Used mango juice with some muddled green chili to add heat and then topped up with lime juice and that special tangy foretaste from the tamarind in Tajin salt!

Picked up the first drink from the book I had mentioned before. Tried a coffee and rum cocktail. With some sugar syrup.

Not a big fan. The coffee was completely overwhelming. As it is rum does not have much of a nose or even a palate. The coffee completely took over. On Sharmila’s suggestion, tried the same with some small bites of dark chocolate. That opened up the taste buds a little better.

Next time, I might experiment with half the amount of coffee and see if things improve.