254 replies to this topic

[kathryn]

I was having trouble procuring vanilla syrup and coffee syrup, so I asked Jeff "Beachbum" Berry for some recipes. Here's his reply:

Here's a good recipe for vanilla syrup:

http://www.amountainofcrushedice.com/?p=5365

There's only one good recipe for coffee syrup, but it's a little more complicated. Here's the entry from my upcoming book, Beachbum Berry remixed:

COFFEE SYRUP

1 cup of medium-roast coffee beans
2 cups brandy
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water

Step one: Crack all the coffee beans, then place in a jar with the brandy. Seal it and let sit for three to four days, then strain the brandy. Step two: Make a brown sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Let cool, then combine the syrup with your coffee-infused brandy.

Hope this helps others!

[John Rosevear]

I make vanilla syrup that way -- 2:1 simple, boiled, then left to steep with a vanilla bean for a while. It is absolutely brilliant when used in place of simple syrup in a Mai Tai.

[Shamanjoe]

Dave, I have a bottle of Cognac-based orange liqueur called Liqueur d'Orange, Cognac Prunier. I'll have to crack it open and see how it plays in a Mai Tai.

John, I have a vanilla bean just begging to be used. I'll have to whip up a batch of simple and make it. Oh, and I lied, apparently the only orange curacao I have is Hiram Walker If I find the Marie Brizzard, I'll definitely give it a try.

[Chris Amirault]

I've never tried it, but a couple of people in Boston have recommended the Hiram Walker curacao as a pretty good alternative if you can't get Curacao de Curacao, Marie Brizard, etc.

[Shamanjoe]

I've only tried it in a few things Chris, but the Hiram Walker curacao took a great Mai Tai and turned it into just an acceptable Mai Tai. I'd stick with something else if you have a choice.

[Tiare]

I would recommend Cointreau which is what i use as i can`t find Curacao de Curacao and i think Cointreau is very good in Mai Tais. I take it down to 1/4 th oz instead of 1/2.

[tammylc]

Thanks all for all the help in pulling together my little tiki shindig. Everyone had a great time and the drinks were fabulous.



(The blender was for my friend Mary's Pina Coladas - I shook my drinks with crushed ice, as you can see in the photo.)

[Chris Amirault]

Another group of unsuspecting innocents lured into Tikidom. Congrats!

[Shamanjoe]

Tammy, I love the double shake there, very impressive. I usually use a boston shaker, so the double would be hard for me

What's that short squat bottle next to the can of pineapple juice? It looks like Pyrat to me..

[tammylc]

Some cheaper than Chambord raspberry liqueur (Chateau Monet). I use it to make a variant of the "Center of the Galaxy" cocktail that's in Imbibe this month (from Smuggler's Cove in SF):

2 oz Demerara
1/2 oz lime
1/2 rich simple syrup
1/2 honey syrup
1/4 raspberry liqueur
pinch cinnamon

I didn't have honey syrup, and my simple wasn't "rich." But I had cinnamon syrup, so I subbed that for the honey syrup and skipped the pinch. It was interesting - very strong. I'm sure it would be better with the right ingredients, but it was fun experiment.

The description on that cocktail sounds like someone's been drinking too many tiki drinks "... drew inspiration from this drink from a news report suggesting that the chemical compound at the center of the galaxy smells like rum and gives raspberries their flavor."

[Shamanjoe]

Wouldn't "rich" simple just be a 2:1 instead of a 1:1 syrup?

I can't think of how you'd make honey syrup either, wouldn't it just end up being another batch of simple with a little honey flavour added?

[thirtyoneknots]

Wouldn't "rich" simple just be a 2:1 instead of a 1:1 syrup?

I can't think of how you'd make honey syrup either, wouldn't it just end up being another batch of simple with a little honey flavour added?

Yes rich typically means syrup made at a higher saturation level and often refers to the syrup having been made with a more flavorful sugar as well, such as a Demerara or Turbinado sugar.

Honey syrup is honey that has had water added, either equal parts or 2:1 to make it pour and mix easier. NB 2:1 honey syrup has sweetness comparable to 1:1 simple syrup.

[Shamanjoe]

It would be interesting to use some honey syrups made with different honeys and see if you can taste the different floral notes of each one.

Thanks for the answer thirtyoneknots. Are there any tiki drinks that use it? I'll admit I'm not yet up to snuff on all my tiki recipes.

[thirtyoneknots]

It would be interesting to use some honey syrups made with different honeys and see if you can taste the different floral notes of each one.

Thanks for the answer thirtyoneknots. Are there any tiki drinks that use it? I'll admit I'm not yet up to snuff on all my tiki recipes.

If by "it" you mean honey syrup the answer is yes: Jeff Berry has many recipes calling for honey or honey mix (ie, syrup) in his books. Most notable of these in my estimation is the Navy Grog and its variations. Honey mix/syrup can (and should) always be subbed in any iced drinks calling for honey, just be aware of the preportions used to prepare it and adapt accordingly.

[Yajna Patni]

I made my first tiki drink tonight!

It is probably all wrong. But it was delicious. I have wanted to try one for a while, due to my thrift store tiki glass collection, er, problem.

I made a Mai Tai. I had a bit of dark rum left over from making coquitos at Christmas, it was Gosling Black label, pretty cheap, and to my completely undeveloped palate kind of delicious. I found a nip of trader joes gold rum at the local liquor store, and figured even with my wretched budget i could make a mai tai. I used a recipe that sugested using amaretto if you can not find orgeat. I can find orgeat, i am just totally broke so i cant really buy it. So.... probably totally wrongly i used it. I had 2 oz of dark and 2 of the gold rum, one of cointreau, and one of the amaretto, and a little simple. I shook it, and poured it over some smashed up ice. I cant stand slushy drinks, so the ice was basicly just pounded with a big screw driver in a plastic bag.

I put it in to one of my naked lady tiki glass, stuck in one of my many many swizzle sticks and drank. wonderful. maybe not right or perfect... but if until now the only tiki drink you had was scorpion bowls or gross hyper pineapple Mai Tais at Kowloon, a great thing. I could taste the dark rum and the light rum. I loved how the dark sugar taste of the dark rum played with the orange.

I will definitely be saving up for some rum bottles.

[Yajna Patni]

oops. and the juice of a lime. dang it would have been nasty without that.

[Chris Amirault]

Anyone who references drinking at Kowloon is a true believer! Now you're hooked, and you can start improving here and there with wee investments in homemade orgeat, some killer rum, and so on.

Meanwhile, I want to know where you're finding nips of Trader Vic -- I assume "joe" above is a typo -- rum!

[Yajna Patni]

Hi Chris!
you right. Typo ooops.....I love Kowloon! and i used to love even more the other route one Polynesian place that has been gone for years and whose name i forget. I am actually right now eating my cereal from a giant Kowloon fogcutter for two goblet/bad ass cereal bowl.

I live in Somerville MA, and i got the trader Vic nips at the liquor store right next door to my local Foodmaster Supermarket. I don't think it even has a name, it just says Liquor in neon outside. Really small and really really um, basic.

I think i could make some orgeat, and start figuring what i should get for some decent rum! Summer fun!

[John Rosevear]

What rum(s) do you use in Mai Tais?

I just made one like this:

1 oz El Dorado 15
1 oz Smith & Cross
1 oz lime
1/2 oz curacao (Brizard)
1/4 oz orgeat (Monin... yes Chris, I know, but it's what I had on the shelf)
1/4 oz simple (I use a 2:1 with a bit of vanilla)

...and it's sublime. I mean, significantly decidedly better -- richer, more nuanced in complementary ways -- than my longtime combo of Appleton Estate 12 and Clement VSOP, which served me (and a whole lot of guests) well for ages. I may never make one of those again, unless to prove a point.

So, my question: What other rum(s) should I be trying in a Mai Tai?

[kathryn]

Have you seen these roundups of some rum combinations?

http://www.amountain...ice.com/?p=1692
http://rumdood.com/2...th-of-mai-tais/

[Chris Amirault]

Made the Smugglers' Cove Top Notch Volcano from the 12/09 NYT tonight in, yep, a volcano bowl complete with a Lemon Hart 151 flame. I skipped the burning spices and used a dash of pimento dram instead, so it went something like this:

4 oz demerara
4 oz lime
4 oz fresh pineapple juice
1 oz passion fruit purée
1 oz Luxardo maraschino
4 oz Plantation Jamaican rum
2 oz Don Q blanco
2 oz Appleton Reserve
1 ounce maraschino liqueur

Shook it all up, poured it over the lagoon of crushed ice, and handed out straws. The MIL liked that plenty.

[Shamanjoe]

Chris,

I have everything but the Don Q. What would sub well so I can make it before I find some Don Q?

[Chris Amirault]

I was just kludging the "4 ounces aged South American or Caribbean white rum, 4 ounces amber rum" ingredients. I have no idea what those things are (rum takes on color as it ages, of course; one might say it turns amber), so I just came up with something that seemed like it would work.

What do you have on hand?

[Shamanjoe]

I was just kludging the "4 ounces aged South American or Caribbean white rum, 4 ounces amber rum" ingredients. I have no idea what those things are (rum takes on color as it ages, of course; one might say it turns amber), so I just came up with something that seemed like it would work.

What do you have on hand?

Chris,

I'm not sure how an aged South American and a white Caribbean would be similar, except that South American rums tend to be on the harsher side (in my experience anyway, somebody more well-versed in rums please let us know if it's different), and a little age on one might smooth it out some.

As far as my stocks go, I have the usual swill left over from parties, mainly Bacardi Silver and Myers Silver. I also have some Rhum Agricole I haven't used, as well as a Flor de Caña white that I haven't even cracked open yet. I think that's all the clear rums I have that aren't flavoured.

edited: to expand on a thought

Edited by Shamanjoe, 08 August 2010 - 06:47 PM.

[Chris Amirault]

I'd use the Flor de Caña.

[mhagglund]

At Tales this year I saw a number of people carrying around real-looking leles, wooden swizzle sticks from the swizzlestick tree. Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying other things to take the time to ask about them. Does anyone here know of a place to purchase them other than flying to Martinique?

[kathryn]

I know that cocktailkingdom.com has been trying to source them for sale online. No news yet.

Ask Ed Hamilton, founder of Ministry of Rum, very nicely? We got ours from a bartender who probably got it from Ed or someone who's close to Ed.

[J_Ozzy]

At Tales this year I saw a number of people carrying around real-looking leles, wooden swizzle sticks from the swizzlestick tree. Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying other things to take the time to ask about them. Does anyone here know of a place to purchase them other than flying to Martinique?

Ben Jones (of Rhum Clement) usually walks around with a pocketful during Tales events. I was lucky enough to snag one this year by asking nicely.

I don't know of a source for the real thing, but I've seen a very clever small wooden dowel arrangement that approximate the effect (a slightly larger dowel is bisected at right angles by two smaller dowel stubs at one end). Not sure if anyone is marketing those commercially, but they probably stand up better to wear.

Edit: found a site with pictures: click

Edited by J_Ozzy, 11 August 2010 - 05:59 PM.

[Yajna Patni]

Well, i couldn't find st James, but i got the appleton estates and a barbancourt, because that was about it for darker rums that are not gosling. Most stores by me have the barbancourt, and brugals?which is dominican.
I got an ice crusher from the 50'sat a yard sale that is shaped like a rocket ship. it works like a dream. I got some orgeat by trader tiki. I did not have energy to make it myself, and the fellow in the cocktail store in Davis sq told me this one was good. I have been making Mai Tais. I like them kind of on the limey side. SO much better than a pineapple explosion, and so fun to serve in my naked lady Tiki glasses. For the triple sec I have been using some stuff i got in a new hampshire liquor store for cheap. It is a grand marnier brandy based knock off. It is not as good as cointrea or grand marnier, but does not taste of jolly ranchers like de kuyper etc.

[Chris Amirault]

I had a terrific Test Pilot last night with a friend, and I must say that it's one of my favorite two or three tiki drinks, especially using Herbsaint in for the Pernod.