I've heard nothing but good things about Lost Lake in Chicago, a tiki bar brought forth by Paul McGee (formerly of Chicago's Three Dots and a Dash tiki bar) with Martin Cate from Smuggler's Cove (and now Whitechapel). I've not been to Lost Lake, but from what I've read, the pictures I've seen and now the recipes I've tried at home I can understand what some of the fuss is about (mixing at home is not like going to a bar, but you can get a feel for what they're working on in the cocktail program.

First up this past Saturday was the Heaven is a Place/This is the Place cocktail. The name is a bit of a mouthful (not a critique, certainly not coming from a guy who names cocktails for defunct Magic Mountain rides) and the ingredient list is like an all-star line up of tiki flavors. The biggest twist is that the base spirit is dry gin and not rum. Lime, orange curaçao, falernum, honey, allspice dram, and Angostura bitters round out the components, and it's garnished with mint, a pineapple leaf a luxardo cherry, and an edible flower. So yes, it's hitting all the classic tiki notes like it was reading from a checklist.

On sipping, it's apparent that the drink has elements working in harmony and not against each others. Depending on your definition of a dash and the strength of your allspice dram, you may want to tweak a but to taste. I haven't tried it yet but I'm confident this recipe is so technically sound that swapping out rum for the gin would work just fine even though it will fundamentally alter the flavor profile (similar to what the Death & Co. book refers to as a "Mr. Potato Head drink").

Grab the recipe from Imbibe.