We have been following Derek’s YouTube channel @MakeAndDrink and have been enjoying all things Tiki that he has been sharing. Yesterday, we mixed up his Voyager cocktail, a somewhat rare gin-based tiki-style drink that we gotta say is pretty amazing. Note that this is not the Voyager created by Robert Hess, but rather a riff on the Saturn cocktail, a 1967 blended classic. As Tiki goes, this one is relatively easy to execute if you can collect all of the ingredients, but it also includes a bunch of little details that enhance the experience.

Before we get into it, let’s talk requirements. This drink has a gin base which is less common for Tiki than rum-based reciples. It also uses lemon juice, orange liqueur, passionfruit and cinnamon syrups, Angostura bitters and a few drops of absinthe. You will need to procure all of this at minimum to pull it off along with a shaker of crushed or pebble ice. If you can cover these bases without swapping anything, you can enjoy it like we have. Now let’s dive deeper, starting with the gin.

Voyager by Derek @makeanddrink
2 oz gin (Empress 1908 if you have it)
1 oz lemon juice
.5 oz triple sec
.5 oz passion fruit syrup
.25 oz cinnamon syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
5 drops of absinthe or Pernod

Add ingredients to a shaker with a cup of crushed or pebble ice and shake for several seconds to chill. Dump unstrained into a tiki mug or snifter. Top up with more ice to fill the glass. Garnish with a lemon peel ringed cocktail cherry and additional outlandish decorations and edible flowers. Serve with a straw.

Derek uses Empress 1908 indigo gin which has a unique blue hue from an infusion of butterfly pea flowers. What’s really wild about this gin is that it changes color. With just a hint of acid, it transforms from blue to pink! It’s quite remarkable, actually. The butterfly pea flower essence is like a chemist’s pH indicator. Do you need to use Empress? Probably not. We actually made our own butterfly pea flower gin using a homemade extract. If you have Empress, use it, but you can get away with any regular gin since the color effect is minimized here anyway.

You are gonna need some syrups, and if you like Tiki, maybe you already have these. Cinnamon syrup is easy to make—mix up a cup or two of simple syrup over medium heat with a few crushed cinnamon sticks. Let that cool, strain, and you have cinnamon flavored syrup. Passion fruit can be a little harder. There are a few good brands out there that you can simply buy outright, but if you can get your hands on passion fruit purée, a homemade version is superior. Here’s how you can make it quickly: Mix equal volumes of simple syrup and passion fruit purée. That’s it! If you like it a little more tart you can adjust the ratio. We used frozen passion fruit from The Perfect Purée which has excellent flavor. They were kind enough to forward this list of places that have carried their products in the past, so if you live near any of these shops, do pay them a visit. Just don’t use juice or nectar advertised as passion fruit since these are already cut with other fruit juices and sugar.

With the syrups covered, you need some fresh lemon juice (or super juice) and a little orange liqueur. We used Cointreau, but any triple-sec will do. Finally, a dash of Angostura and 5 drops absinthe are required. Absinthe is pretty expensive and you don’t need a lot to make tiki drinks. You can also use Pernod in place of actual absinthe, but having some will unlock a bunch of drinks you have been missing.

Finally, while this doesn’t affect the flavor, an over-the-top garnish should be considered an obligation. This is, after all, a riff on the Saturn which is noted for using a cocktail cherry surrounded by “rings” that resemble planetary imagery from the Voyager spacecrafts. This should be your minimum goal, and you can do a much better job than we did by following these steps: Take two wide strips of lemon peel like you might use to make a twist. Poke the ends with a toothpick and continue running the pick through a cherry. To complete the look, wrap the opposite ends of the lemon peel around the cherry and slide them over the pick as it exits the other side. Now you have a garnish that resembles the ringed planet!

So, how does it taste? The Voyager has a nice refreshing balance of flavors. It is definitely not overly sweet, nor is it strong and spicy. Some of our favorite Tiki recipes mix multiple rums leading to intense, dark, complex results. That’s great, but tropical flavors work just as well in something lighter and refreshing without betraying the Tiki aesthetic. Even though we have cinnamon and Angostura, the spice here is under control. Cinnamon and passion fruit is a combo that is absolutely fantastic and totally underrated. The orange liqueur does not stand out, and the lemon helps keep the sugar in check. It’s a very good, well-balanced drink. We love shake-and-dump crushed ice cocktails for their simple method of construction and this one doesn’t disappoint!