Adam George

I look forward to part two.

A drink that would never work with real Amer Picon.

I would wager that adding warm to hot water to a nice cube tray would produce clearer ice than cool tap water as it will take longer to freeze.

This is a bit puzzling. I could see how a coupe glass could be a little more forgiving than a same-capacity V-shaped glass if you are worried about being too close to the rim. But if your glass is 6 oz and your shaken cockail 4 oz, you should have plenty of room there. I think Has is measuring this shaken drink before pouring it into the glass to confirm that it does indeed exceed 5oz by the time it's near the brim. Indeed the cocktail ends up at 6oz. When I'm shaking cocktails on Hoshizaki (read, Kold Draft) cubes, I get around a half ounce in volume of crushed ice in my fine strainer by the time I'm done. It's those bits of ice that have been diluting. If your ice is very cloudy and therefore brittle, it will break apart more easily, melt faster and result in more overall dilution. Like Rafa said, give your freezer a good clean, including any fans and vents and try and try setting your freezer warmer to produce better ice. In an extreme move you could also try Camper English's directional freezing method and produce a large, clear chunk to work with.

I'll list how got there in roughly chronological order. Should note, these aren't the only combos I tried, but the ones that best represent the lineage of my thinking. Appleton VX only. Appleton VX & Clement VSOP Appleton VX & Leblon Cachaca Appleton VX & Leblon Cachaca with a dash of Wray Meyers's Dark Rum & Leblon Cachaca Meyers's Dark Rum & Trois Rivieres Blanc Smith and Cross & Trois Rivieres Blanc Part Skipper, part Smith & Cross & Trois Rivieres Blanc Basically, I and many Mai Tais I had before this used Appleton VX and it's sensibly priced for mixing. However, I was looking for something with more depth of flavour. Then I discovered at the original was split with Jamaican Rum and agricole. However, despite it being perfectly good, it was too dry with the Clement VSOP for my personal taste. This video inspired me to use cachaca in place of agricole (and vanilla syrup, incidentally) since we had it in the bar already. Appleton VX and cachaca was fine and I threw some Wray at it, which was fun, but ultimately just upped the proof and pushed the young Appleton out front a bit more. A colleague suggested I try a "dark" Jamaican rum with the cachaca, so for a while I settled on Meyers's with Cachaca, and that eventually made it onto my menu. I really liked this blend and loved how the drink was so layered, with a definite point where the Jamaican finished and the grassy, fresh cachaca took over and finished the drink. It was so refreshing. When the Trois Rivieres came in and I had finished my batch of Meyer's and Cachaca pre-mix I changed the recipe. We even saved money because the agricole was loads cheaper than the expensive Leblon. I liked this mixture but was now looking at a 50% white spirit pushing the Meyers's out of the way in profile. I had taken delivery of hipster favourite Smith & Cross and for a while made half S&C and half TR. This was a banging drink. Really great and if it weren't so strong I might have called it a favourite. Also, I was missing the heavy, molasses-centric profile of Meyers's. So I thought about creating "Turbo Meyers's" - something with a similar profile to the syrupy dark Jamaican, yet retaining the lovely banana/passionfruit notes of the S&C and also standing shoulder to shoulder with Trois Rivieres 100 Proof. Enter the Skipper, a cheap £11 Demerera Rum from Guyana, yet bottled up in Glasgow. It's young and coloured to fuck. When blended with S&C, this had exactly what I was looking for - it's basically 97 proof Meyers's. I loved making this drink because I got to try it each time. I typically don't taste drinks unless the balance really hangs in a couple of ml of citrus or sugar as I know when they'll be okay - and truthfully this was always going to be fine, just pour a measure from the pre-mix, squeeze 25ml of fresh lime and go - but I always tasted this Mai Tai because it's that fucking good. Worth noting that I don't shake this with crushed and dump as I like to be able to control the dilution better, so I shake and strain over fresh cubes and crown with a good mountain of crushed to wedge my lime husk into. This way the drink was as strong and punchy in ten minutes as it was as soon as served.

You seem very sure of yourself...

If the ice is cloudy - like I've seen from many domestic fridge ice machines, it could be too brittle and simply breaking to hell in the shaker, hence rapid dilution. The only other reason is that you're haunted.

Or, alternate question: What shaker are you using and how much ice are you putting in it? If you don't use enough, dilution levels will be higher as you won't be hitting that temperature plateau.

Any chance that despite its temperature your ice is simply too brittle to be shaken?

I saw that video and had a feeling it would be a good version.

Though I'm at risk of sounding immodest, this is the best Mai Tai I've ever had - hands down.

Where is your ice from?

Don't mind me, just posting this recipe again: 0.75oz Skipper Demerera 0.75oz Smith & Cross 1.25oz Trois Riveries Blanc 1.25oz Lime 0.75oz Pierre Ferrand Curaçao 0.5 oz Orgeat 0.25oz Vanilla Syrup. Shake, strain over cubed ice, crown with crushed, lime husk with bitters dashed on and large mint sprig for garnish.

I like them also with crème de cassis. We don't have Thanksgiving... I'm going to have to try that.On the apple brandy note, the cool folks at Laird's just mailed me a bunch of swag (post-its, booklets, clothes, etc), not all of which fits. Anyone want an XL black t-shirt with the Laird's logo? Wearing big oversized t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up is very hipstery cool around hipstery parts of London

We do a lot of Afternoon Tea at work, so tea is another ingredient.

I resign any eGullet Cred I had, but it's Bacardi Legacy. I don't really enter comps, but I reckon I've got a good, easily replicable drink that really shows the rum off. Plus, I've made a good connection with where I work and given the drink a clever, memorable name. I think I have much better chance than last year.

Bloody good question, mate. I'm half way through a lengthy opening post that may go up in the next couple of days. I have some days off starting Sunday. I've been very busy with work lately [un]fortunately.

Preparing for a cocktail competition, so stocking up on some bits that the bar [sadly] does not carry.

That's true. The Zombie falls into the Strong yet Easy Drinking category - My favourite.

Mount Gay Xo is boring when mixed to be honest. Grab Appleton VX or Extra 8

Shoreditch House has got very WankMixology since I was there. Funny.... I've been a different bar and had the waiter tell my female companion a drink was "strong". I put it down to staff training, really. I trained my staff previously to refer to drinks as either "spirit forward" or "easy drinking" rather than "strong" and "light". I really would like to see more effort put into training floor staff at decent cocktail bars. I like the Koln Martini, but was expecting more of a unique flavour profile. I'd give it a go again when less tired, I think. Overall, Zetter is lovely bar and well worth a detour.

No, no, no. http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/product-p/sha_korikoxxxx_0028_set.htm I also use the Baron Yukiwa at work.

Happy with this fortified wine lead Creole drink. 1.25oz Lillet Rose 1.25oz Amontillado Sherry 0.75oz Pikesville Rye 0.75oz Remy Martin VSOP 0.50oz Benedictine DOM 4 Dash Peychaud's Bitters 2 Dash Angostura Bitters. Stir over cubed ice, strain into a small chilled wine glass rinsed with Absinthe Lemon twist, discard.

I'd take anything Palazzi says with a large pinch of kosher salt. He is a dinosaur.

I hate the way pasteurised egg whites don't foam up as much as fresh eggs. I'm pretty sure the heating process kills off some of the proteins. Not a technical term, sorry. So, to echo everyone else, alcohol and citrus will keep your drink safe. Also, I might add you make your sours very sweet.... I usually scale back on the syrup a bit. Each to their own, though.