Keep Feeling Fassionation
Blowing dust off a few bottles and using that Fassionola syrup I purchased a while back
This is not really a place for year end round ups, nor do I intend to do one. All I intend to do is get one more in under the auspices of the Gregorian Calendar 2022. So what am I doing here?
We keep it rolling. I have…not always successfully done this every other week, but that’s the goal and it’s time to get back into that rhythm. Of course, sometimes it’s hard. After all, what is there that is additive? What hasn’t been made? Many things, it turns out, but it’s natural that one finds oneself in a rut with anything from time to time. And while I would normally shake out of that torpor by buying something weird and learning about it, I’m a) a little strapped when it comes to storage space until I figure out where to put more bottles in my place and b) not particularly desirous of spending money on more bottles while unemployed when I have so many bottles.
So why not pull out one I’ve been meaning to use anyway, fassionola syrup. What is fassionola? It’s…basically passion fruit. But not quite just passion fruit. The heyday of tiki was weird like that. It’s one of those things that has largely fallen out of use but it’s still a nice thing to have around. But these days, we also got good fresh passion fruit from people like Small Hands so do you need both? Probably not. Do I have both…well, yes, of course I do, thus the discourse here people.
This is something that fits in seamlessly with many classics, from Hurricanes to Zombies to Saturns. So given that nothing is original, let’s just riff off the stone cold classic that is a Saturn. This drink won awards for a reason. And it’s perfect. How do you improve upon perfection? Why do you improve upon perfection? Well, sometimes funny things happen along the way and you find something great. It’s always good to challenge your priors, and everything comes from somewhere. Sometimes you gotta go where somewhere takes you.
Now the original Saturn, in my humble opinion, always needs more gin than basically every recipe I’ve ever seen. Seriously, these drinks from the 50s and 60s with 1-1.5 ounces of liquor, who are you even kidding? So with that in mind, that’s where I find inspiration, in a punched-up riff on a classic. And while gin is a perfectly cromulent liquor, let’s bring rum back into the mix because rum and gin is always a nice combo
The Saturn is one of those cocktails that you can do up or over ice depending on your mood (imo it’s a great up tropical beverage, which you can’t say about all of them). But if we are gonna add more liquor here, then this is definitely over ice, people. And as opposed to the original which plays down the supporting cast of lemon, passion fruit, and orgeat to small but important amounts, we’re gonna need more. You may be asking yourself, how do I determine how much of these things, and the dirty secret is…well, you just gotta play with it sometimes. Many of these drinks are not quite perfect the first time I make them and iteration is important. And it all goes out the window anyway when you explore what your bar (home or otherwise) has available, what your preferences are (I tend to balance sweet, but love a well-made dry drink).
So…where did I end up here? Right about…here
1 oz lemon
.75 oz fassionola
.5 oz orgeat
.25 falernum
1 oz Smith and Cross (or your favorite overproof Jamaican)
1.5 oz Botanivore (really, any gin, but this is my go-to)
Take all of that, put your ingredients in your mixing tin, and put a bunch of crushed ice in. I poured it ungated into a Collins glass, but you could strain and top with more fresh crushed ice, I just didn’t want to crush more ice at the exact moment. No garnish, you are shedding the Saturn name and thus the clear planetary association.
But what should I call it? I respect lineage, and a stronger, wilder version of this should respect that as well, so how about Kronos.
Until next time…
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something every couple of weeks (a low volume Substack, I swear!), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
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