Blowin’ in the wind.

Three Sheets (to the Wind).

Summer having (very) arrived I felt an almost instinctive compulsion to create a new Tiki drink. Looking back over these pages I saw that it was a surprisingly long time since I last did so, especially considering my love for the genre. Off we go then! When inventing a new drink there are a few things to consider which assist greatly in the creative process. Firstly a theme to hang it on and if possible a name – although this often will come later. If you start there certain ingredients tend to suggest themselves. I’m already going Tiki and I thought to dive into the Naval sub-genre yet without making yet another Navy Grog variation, productive as that is. From this starting point I thought of the term “Three sheets to the wind” which is slang for someone being pretty drunk as a cracking name for a cocktail. It certainly appears to have some seagoing etymology and I always assumed that it meant with all the sails raised you would be fairly flying along with the wind at your back. But it turns out that it is even better than that. Apparently:

“To understand this phrase we need to enter the arcane world of nautical terminology. Sailors’ language is, unsurprisingly, all at sea and many supposed derivations have to go by the board. Don’t be taken aback to hear that sheets aren’t sails, as landlubbers might expect, but ropes (or occasionally, chains). These are fixed to the lower corners of sails, to hold them in place. If three sheets are loose and blowing about in the wind then the sails will flap and the boat will lurch about like a drunken sailor”

Having come this far some ingredients are indeed beginning to suggest themselves. Yes, as you probably guessed already, Navy strength rum will be our base for our new drink. My second tip on creating a new cocktail is to loosely base it on an existing classic. Beginners often start with great enthusiasm try all sort of strange concoctions only to be baffled why they don’t work (I know I was). The truth is that all the killer combos were worked out long, long ago. I love a Mai Tai and also find it a superb template for experimentation. Basically it is two parts spirit (yes, usually but not necessarily rum), one part of lime juice (or maybe another sour citrus) and one part sweet. And that sweet component, as in the original Mai Tai, can be a combination of syrups and/or liqueurs. All shaken with crushed ice and “dirty dumped” into a nice glass. All of which is pretty easy to do. My third tip is that if you want a quality drink use some quality ingredients. That said, when in the initial creation phase I will often mix with basic spirits to see if it has any potential and if it does move up to the better and more expensive versions. In this case I opted to just start out with some of my favourite – and well established – Tiki ingredients because I wanted to make this a timeless drink. My goal was to make something that could just as easily have been created in 1946 (peak Tiki) as 2026 kinda like I did with my Frigate Bird from a couple of years ago. The lime juice sour component I left entirely unmolested. The Navy strength rums I split evenly between Smith & Cross and Wood’s Navy rum, both 57% abv. Now knowing those of you outside the UK are highly unlikely to get any Wood’s I also tested it with 54.5% (also plausibly Navy strength) Worthy Park 109 which is a bit more available and it works just as well. There are further alternatives such as Pusser’s Gunpowder rum that you should feel free to use. The sweet is a combination of three classic Tiki syrups: ginger syrup, honey syrup and falernum*. My tweak is a good few dashes of my own home-made Tiki bitters which add spice and complexity. I urge you to make some but if you are determined to be lazy landlubber go ahead and fire a couple of dashes or aromatic bitters or a few drops of pimento dram in there and it will be fine – although you will forever be tormented by the fact that it could be even better. Make it just like a Mai Tai and, if you like, decorate it with a crooked sail. I hope this one shivers your timbers as much as it does mine!