Stubbornness is not a virtue, but I have it in excess, as anyone who knows me will tell you. I have not felt well the last few days and woke up feeling particularly off this morning After drowning in self pity for a while I got up and got to work on the farm. I really leaned into it figuring if I was gonna feel bad, I might as well get something done. You ever do that? Punish your body for feeling bad for too long? Just me? Ok. Well, now I’m am tired. Proper tired. Arms trembling, pushing water tired, cause I’m stubborn and tired of feeling bad and trying to rest. So, in honor of my current situation, please join me now as we stand and make the tiki inspired Norwegian Paralysis. 

I just wrote and deleted 3 paragraphs about how hard I worked before realizing that no one cares, not even me. The point is, I did a lot of physical labor today and I earned my near paralysis. There was welding, sledgehammering, chainsawing, a tractor and a couple of tons of red maple involved. Suffice it to say, my arms hurt enough that I had Liam shake the drink for me, both times.

Clearly this one is shaken, so grab your tins and pop in 2 ounces of Aquavit, I chose Linie because why wouldn’t you choose an aquavit that has spent two years at sea? To that add, 1 1/2 ounces each of orange and pineapple juice, 1/2 an ounce of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 ounce of orgeat, 1/4 ounce of Demerara syrup and 2-3 drops of Bittermen’s Elmekalule Tiki Bitters. Add ice and shake to the beat of Train’s “We Were Made For This“, cause that’s what was playing when I made mine and I want you to get the full experience. Strain into something pretty over that good Sonic pebble ice and garnish with some pineapple fronds and a flower from the front garden. 

It is wonderful. Seriously. A bit sweet, but sometimes that is nice, a good reward at the end of the day. Not surprising with all those juices, orgeat and Demerara. That aquavit, though. On its own it is in your face and wonderfully herbal, but it blends so nicely here balancing all those sweet elements. Yep, I like it. 

I wanted to do a whole thing about how cool it is that they barrel this aquavit and then send it from Norway to Australia and back on a container ship. How the temperatures and motion of the ocean impart a special flavor and uncomfortably large carbon footprint in every glass. I was going to talk about how fitting it is to have a tiki drink featuring an alcohol that has sailed farther than most anyone you’ll see sitting at the Trader Vic’s bar. But I’m tired. Seriously. It has been a very long day and my heart just isn’t in it. So imagine that I did all that, pretend it was entertaining and stay safe, stay hydrated and stay sane, my friends.