Life can keep us away from the things we love, sadly life has made it hard to be as active as I’d like to be here. Slowly that’s changing to get back to normal. Sometimes however when inspiration calls, it breaks the door down and insists.

Vincent Price is a huge influence in Rated R Cocktails. He lived during the heyday of Tiki and is documented in some delightful quotes on our about page. No killer on stage or screen was ever as elegant and silken. Far from the garish murder porn of modern day horror, Vincent Price was always smarter, craftier, and classier than the other guy. He was a villain you could cheer for if there ever was one.

Vincent Price’s family was set before he was even born. His grandfather invented cream of tartar and he was a graduate of Yale. Though he’s known as a master of horror his first picture was actually more of a delightfully dated 1938 romantic comedy that would make most present day women cringe. Still I’d love a DVD copy of it. Regardless he was also a collector of art as well as quite an amazing cook. Being the smart man he was he chose Hollywood actor over professional chef. As my bank account will attest he made the right decision. Still I’m always on the lookout for his cookbooks, sadly they seem to be out of print.

We’ve wanted to dedicate a drink to Mr. Price for a long time. Nothing ever felt quite right, but after watching The Invisible Man Returns, one of our favorite movies, I was immediately possessed to make this drink. We love Gin Tiki cocktails, and we imagine Mr. Price was a gin drinker as well. We added some pleasing sweet bitter as well as our fresh vanilla syrup and thus one of our favorite drinks was made. We playfully garnish this with a prune, after reading a few articles about his aforementioned cookbooks. One of the things that stood out to us were more than a few recipes using the little devils. Plus the color of the prunes provides lovely contrast and a tasty snack.

The Price

2 oz london dry gin

½ oz fresh lime juice

¼ oz fresh lemon juice

½ oz fresh pineapple juice

½ oz vanilla syrup

¼ oz Aperol

1 dash Elemakule Bittermen’s Tiki Bitters

Shake cold in a cobbler shaker and strain into a coupe. Garnish with a candied or dried prune.

The drink has wonderful notes of refreshing citrus and ginger/cinnamon spice. However the homemade vanilla syrup is quite key here. It adds not only sweetness and balance, but depth as well making it quite complex. The pineapple and gin make spectacular dance partners near the middle, and the Aperol wraps things up nicely with a soft bitter finish. It has a big brilliant vanilla aroma with a bit of spice from the bitters.

We’re very proud of this cocktail and we hope your inspired to shake one up. Then sit back and pop in a classic Price flick, we think it’s a recipe for a great night.

“You get hammered America!” – JFL