Nakatomi Towers Cocktail

Yippy Ki Yay People of the World!   I joined a film club.  And, to celebrate,  I made a very down low version of Jane Rocca’s Nakatomi Towers cocktail.  The original recipe contains fancypants ingredients like Shochu and yuzu but two days before Christmas,  I have enough to do without trying to source either of them so we’re going basic.  And you know what? My version is delicious!

So, my work team decided to form a film club!  One of my work buddies had 12 themes for films and there are six of us, so we each got randomly allocated a theme and a time.  Turned out…I was up first.  With the theme of “Blockbuster”.   It was actually one of the easier themes.  I flirted with Home Alone for the seasonality, and Inception because it made the bucks.  But when we talk blockbuster and this time of year?  There can only be one!

Ah, Die Hard…I had not seen Die Hard for many a year and, truth be told, I was wondering whether it would stand the test of time.  It does!  I made some popcorn and spent a rainy Sunday afternoon totally absorbed in the antics of John McLaine, Hans Gruber and co.  So absorbed that I then watched A Good Day To Die Hard which is the only one of the franchise I own.  Don’t do that, it’s terrible.  But Die Hard the original – awesome!

Then, during the week, I happened to be flicking through the pages of Jane Rocca’s The Fashionable Cocktail (I can thoroughly recommend it) and I came across the recipe for a cocktail called Nakatomi Towers…and this post was born!

This is the original recipe but the shops at this time of year are a hot mess and even if I was willing to brave the great unwashed, given I have never seen a yuzu in my life, my chances of finding one on the eve of Christmas eve were slim.  My tiny local bottle-o had Sake so that was going to sub in for the Shochu and I had a grapefruit in the house. I also don’t see the reason for simple syrup if you are going to add lemonade so we can cut that step out too…It’s Christmas, we’re all busy, let’s not take time consuming steps unless they are absolutely necessary right??

I do like the thought of muddled apricots though!

Okay Hans, sure whatever.  Calm the farm down dude. It’s Christmas! Have a cocktail and enjoy!

Let’s get to the recipe shall we?  Are we good to go?

Nakatomi Towers

Print Recipe

A delicious cocktail celebrating the blockbuster “Die Hard”

• Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 Apricots
• 45 ml Sake
• 45 ml red grapefruit juice
• Lemonade
• Ice Cubes

To Garnish

• Apricot slice
• Grapefruit wedge
• Maraschino cherry

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Muddle the apricots in your shaker.
2. Add some ice cubes, the sake and the grapefruit juice to the shaker.
3. Shake it like a polaroid picture.
4. Put fresh ice cubes into a glass.
5. Strain the apricot / sake mixture into the glass.
6. Top with lemonade.
7. Garnish with a slice of apricot, a wedge of grapefruit and a maraschino cherry.
8. Take a sip and murmer “Yippy Kay Yay!”

I really like the kind of funkiness the sake brings to the Nakatomi Towers.  It works really well against the sweetness of the apricots, the tanginess of the lemonade and the bitter of grapefruit.  For a cocktail that I “dumbed” down the flavours are quite complex.  And not heavy on the booze so if you want to have more than one it’s….

So tell me… What movie would you have chosen given the theme “Blockbuster”?
And where do you stand on Die Hard being a Christmas movie?
For the record? In my opinion – it’s a movie set at Christmas, not a Christmas movie. But let the debate begin!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!