Fat-wash did the trick for Patio on Goldfinch’s Sheer Determination

Brandon Curry, bar manager at the Patio on Goldfinch, presumed that the rollercoaster ride that was Super Bowl XLI would end with the Atlanta Falcons joining the New York Giants (who did it twice) as the only two teams to mar Tom Brady’s otherwise perfect Super Bowl record. Watching Atlanta’s Dirty Birds run up the score in the first half, Curry was ready to give the patio’s Patriot fans a drink to drown their sorrows.

“There are a lot of Patriot fans here at the Patio,” he says, “so if the Patriots lost I was originally going to call it ‘Brady’s Divorce,’ but since the Patriots won, in honor of Brady’s playing, I wound up naming it ‘Sheer Determination.’”

Really, the concoction has less to do with pigskins or gridirons, Curry admits, than with making a cocktail using coconut water.

“The coconut water on its own doesn’t impart a strong flavor,” he says. “It’s delicate, and any other flavor you’re using with it will overwhelm it. I had a roadblock coming up with cocktails with that stronger coconut flavor coming through.”

But the fat-wash did the trick, Curry says, delivering an infused coconut flavor while also obliging the coconut water to shine.

“The cocktails I was originally looking into were good but I wasn’t tasting the coconut well,” he says. “The fat-wash brings out the coconut flavor more and brightens everything up.”

Eschewing the traditional but artificial coconut-flavored spiced rum, Curry says the infusion combined with coconut water offers a refreshing lightness without sacrificing flavor.

“I would call Sheer Determination more of a tiki-style cocktail,” he says. “It is clean and refreshing and you get the banana and coconut in the front palate, and it finishes with the light coconut water at the end. Then the Peychaud’s gives it a little more complexity.”1 oz. fresh lemon juice

• 1 oz. coconut water
• 1 oz. Giffard Banane du Bresil Liqueur
• 1 oz. coconut oil fat-washed Matusalem Platino rum*

• Pour ingredients in short Collins glass with ice and top with float of Peychaud’s Bitters and sprig of fresh mint for garnish.

• *Pour ¼ cup coconut oil into infuser with rum, sit at room temperature for 24 hours, freeze, skim fat from surface, and strain through fine mesh into bottle.