Feel like a Piña Colada but can't be arsed with all the shaking and coconut nonsense? Or maybe a Treacle sans apple juice? Well, Nick Pearce of Recipearce fame has the cocktail for you. But first, a little introduction for our esteemed host and collaborator Nick. The cook, family man and self-proclaimed "frother" loves a cheeky surf or foil (brb, googling foil) in the morning and is the owner and creator of the much-loved ‘gram @recipearce. So, as you can all tell, we’re very excited that he got on board for this round of Mixing With, creating an ICONIC Nick Pearce special, the Tickle Tickle.
So, what’s in it and what does it taste like? “It's like a stripped-back pirate version of a Piña Colada, something strong to sip on and contemplate,” explains Nick. Pirates, like Orlando Bloom pirates? Sign us up. It’s a very sippable mix of orgeat, rum and fresh pineapple juice – super-duper easy-going and very simple to make. “Personally I love that the Tickle Tickle is strong, but still balanced with all those lovely aromatic and floral flavours shining through,” says Nick. “Kinda like me.”
In terms of our cocktail family tree, it sits in the tiki style and despite the pineapple juice, is actually more akin to a Mai Tai. If you’ve not heard of a Mai Tai before, it's a tasty rum, lime, orgeat and orange curacao drink created in 1944 by Victor Bergeron at his restaurant Trader Vic’s in California. Our Tickle Tickle, while very close, takes some of those ingredients but adds pineapple juice to dial-up the tropical vibes – resulting in a sweet, strong, tropical orange-blossomy cocktail. Yummo.
As old mate Nick is quite the successful cook, we had to know what he was pairing with his tiki creation: “I’d be making tacos for sure,” explains Nick. “Hopefully I’d have caught some fresh fish that week and be making mahi mahi tacos with a delish fresh mango and pineapple salsa.” Sounds perfect to us!
Want to have a go at Nick’s Tickle Tickle cocktail at home? Have a squiz at his top tips below.
