Although Rum Diary is in lockdown (like so many other bars across the globe), we were lucky enough to get a few minutes with EZ Enkera before they had to lock the doors.
Suspecting that, in the short term at least, we would all end up drinking from home, Enkera suggested a new drink that is now (and will be, after this is all over) new to their menu, but simple to make outside a bar as well.
The Fitzy Tiki is The Rum Diary Bar’s homage to Fitzroy, the suburb in Melbourne in which they are located, but it is also a polite nod to Tiki itself. With the drink, Enkera wanted to create a more one juice forward Tiki drink, rather than a usual multiple juice Tiki drink.
“I thought orange and raspberry just go really, really well together,” he said. “And I find that to be a nice drink coming into autumn and winter too. It has that bit of body to still stand up with, rather than being a very, very acidic and very front of pallet pineapple juice.”
The drink could best be described as having a refreshing acidity. The acid on the orange juice is balanced by the sweetness and tartness of the raspberries. It is not only refreshing but in the words of Enkera, it is a drink that is also by nature quite straightforward.
The best thing about the drink is its universal appeal. “Once people find out the ingredients,” Enkera explains, “then they’re like, “Oh yeah, I really want that.” When you explain that it’s a drink that combines rum with house-made raspberry syrup and fresh-pressed juices, then it just becomes a really appealing drink.”
The Rums
Enkera explains that although the rum Dead man’s Finger comes from the UK, it is a blend of Caribbean rums that is just perfect for this drink.
“So it’s just super, super-nice,” Enkera explains. “I’m a big fan of this rum and it’s the ability to shine through with Tiki drinks. Rather than just being a drink that’s very juice forward, this rum has enough body that you can actually taste the flavour of spiced rum within the drink.”
“And Ratu is just a very good body. The Ratu Rum is there to act as a bridge, to allow the spiced rum and the orange juice to combine. It’s the binding agent between the rum and the orange juice.”
The Raspberry Syrup
The Raspberry Syrup is super simple to make. It simply uses a one-to-one part sugar syrup.
“While the sugar syrup is still hot, take it off the boil and add the equivalent amount of frozen raspberries in there,” Enkera explains. So one cup of sugar and one cup of water will mean two cups of raspberries. So let that cold-infuse for a day, then strain it all through.”
The Garnish
The garnish for this drink, Enkera uses a powder of freeze-dried raspberries. “If you don’t have freeze-dried raspberries, that’s not the biggest problem at all. Or the mint. The garnish is there more secondary. If you don’t have the garnishes, don’t go out and freak out about that.
As long as you got the base of your fresh orange juice and your raspberry syrup, then I think you can really play around with different spirits. And you can substitute Bacardi instead of Ratu, and Sailor Jerry’s instead of Dead Man Fingers.”
Fitzy Tiki
Ingredients
- 40ml Dead Man’s Fingers spiced rum
- 20ml Ratu white rum
- 30ml fresh pressed lemon juice
- 30ml house-made raspberry syrup
- 60ml house fresh pressed orange juice.
Instructions
Shake all ingredients together with ice, then dumped that into a glass
Garnish
Dehydrated lemon, some mint and then some freeze-dried raspberries smashed up into a powder with icing sugar.
