Friendly Apes – Giffard Litchi-Li
As promised here is my variation of the Naked Ape cocktail. Instead of banana liqueur, I chose lychee liqueur as the “exotic” fruit flavour in the recipe. Well now, do not be afraid the resulting drink is not an over the top sweet cocktail with a whole armada of fruit juices thrown into it. Instead, I kept the basic proportions of Martin Cate’s drink. However, the lychee liqueur on itself is also worth taking a closer look at!
No, I am not the biggest fan of lychee. Nevertheless, I discovered the recipe for a “Lychee Martini” a while ago which sounded promising. Yet, I did not have a lychee liqueur on hand. To change that I got my hands on the Litch-Li made by Giffard. There is not much information out there on the liqueur. However, Giffard mentions that lychee is distilled in the production process. In the end, the liqueur is bottled at 18 % ABV.
Balanced fruit notes
It is pretty obvious that the Litchi-Li tastes of its eponymous fruit. However, you can also discover some flowery rose petal and even some mango notes in the taste. Of course, this is not the most complex liqueur, but at the same time it tastes natural and rather pleasant. This is perfect for giving cocktails a slight lychee note without overpowering the other ingredients.
Taking about overpowering
As mentioned above, I kept the basic proportions of the Naked Ape cocktail. Yet, this does not mean that I did not change a few ingredients. In case of the rum, I combined two “Caribbean blended” rums the Black Tot and the Kill Devil Navy Style Rum. Instead of Angostura Bitters I went for The Seventh Sense Tiki Bitters, instead of vanilla, cinnamon syrup and instead of lemon, lime juice.
1,5 cl Kill Devil Navy Rum
1 Dash The Seventh Sense Tiki Bitters
1,5 cl Giffard Lychee Liqueur
2,25 cl Lime Juice
1,5 cl Vanilla Syrup
Garnish: Dried Orange Wheel;
Song: Atlas Genius – Friendly Apes;
The “Friendly Apes” starts with a combination of Jamaica heavy rum notes and exotic fruits. However, instead of a cinnamon kick, mellow lychee and vanilla notes appear. You can taste the Litchi-Li, but it does not overwhelm the cocktail. In my opinion, lime works in this kind of cocktails a bit better than lemon juice, but I guess the difference is small. In the end, this is a pleasant and mellow sipper which really depends on the combination of rum used.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The liqueur was provided by Giffard.
