DrinkBoy

"The" glass to drink wine out of, is the classic "Coca Cola" glass. Think about it... the narrow base part of the glass will keep the wine from getting "too much" air while it sits, but the aroma that come up off of it will collect in the larger "bowl" at the top. Then when you drink it, and the wine falls from the narrow base into the wider bowl, it will get a quick burst of extra oxidation which will release even more flavors and complexities... ...at least that is what I convinced myself back in college, when I had a bunch of free coca cola glasses, and no wine glasses :-> -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

(edit : fixed link to 1918 saloon catalog) The traditional cocktail glass is fairly old, I've been trying to track down information about when it first made an appearance, and when it first became common to use for cocktails, but haven't been able to nail it down yet. Somebody once told me that they were in a museum and saw a display of old medieval tableware, and one item was a glass that looked amazingly like a cocktail glass. Here is a zoom-in from the painting "The Temptation of St. Anthony" by David Teniers II, which "appears" to show somebody holding a cocktail glass. The painting was made in 1650. http://groups.msn.com/DrinkBoy/artwork.msn...oto&PhotoID=311 And here: http://groups.msn.com/DrinkBoy/albertpicka...oto&PhotoID=162 is a scan of a page from a 1918 "saloon" catalog, which shows some "no-nik" glassware (they put a bulge in the glass so that when the glasses were put on a shelf the rims wouldn't touch and chip one another). Their cocktail glass is fairly similar to our traditional cocktail glass... if you cut it off at the bulge. (and here are scans of more of the pages from this catalog: http://groups.msn.com/DrinkBoy/albertpicka...mpany1918.msnw) -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com PS: Hmmm... that link to the saloon catalog didn't come through right. Let me try that again: http://groups.msn.com/DrinkBoy/albertpicka...ompany1918.msnw

Fun Page! Your BGSOUND isn't working because the midi file doesn't appear to be located at http://hometown.aol.com/badcatbeans/tocatta.mid -Robert

Colin has a few things going for him. First he's got access to some pretty good stuff that few others have, he's also got a somewhat exclusive and upscale clientel at "Le Bar Hemingway". But he is also a damn fine bartender. When I was first getting into cocktails, I had all but decided that bartenders were all a bunch of clueless bottle monkies. I "knew" what a cocktail could taste like, but could never get anything even approaching this from the bartenders I would order from. Then I ran into Colin one day in Paris, and he single-handedly showed me what a -real- bartender could produce. I since have discovered that there really "are" bartenders out there who know their stuff and take pride in providing their customers with quality drinks. And there are many more who may not really understand the culinary basics that can be applied to cocktails, but they have that spark within them that shows promise. To this day, Colin Field is still the model by which I measure all bartenders by. FYI: He recently has published a book on some of the cocktails that he produces. You can read more about it here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...il/-/0743247523 -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

I know... but I'm not ready to give up yet I've got a few little projects in the works that might just help turn the tide... :-> -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

More info here: http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200310/200...031015_08.jhtml This is -exactly- the sort of mis-information that drives me crazy. Millions of people will see this show and it will just further ingrain into their minds that a "Martini" is anything served in a cocktail glass. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Personally, I can't recommend Burnetts at all. But each of us might have different opinions about that. What I would recommend is this: Buy a bottle of Burnetts. Make your drinks, when you are getting low (but not out!) pick up a bottle of something else, perhaps more expensive, perhaps less. Do a taste comparison between the two (blind, if possible). This will tell you which of the two you liked better. Keep doing this each time you are running low, and eventually you will have arrived at what you think is the best value. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

I suppose a little further explanation is in order. The "attempt to increase the alcohol content" is more targeted at folks like Fields, Bogart, Churchill, and the likes who "popularized" this approach to make Martinis... Other folks pick up on this, and since this is what their "heros" are doing, then it must be right (anybody remember the Dr. Suess story about the "Snitches" with stars on their bellies?). Eventually, this spreads so far that folks just assume it is the right way to do things. So while perhaps some modern Martini drinkers are intentionally intending to get a higher octane drink, I think in most cases it is simply what they grew accustomed to. Drinking alcohol itself is a fairly mean feat of "growing accustomed" to something. Face it. Straight Alcohol tastes pretty nasty, at least to the new initiate. It has been suggested that what happens is that the brain is capable of overriding the "turpentine" effect with the promise of the slightly euphoric feeling that will follow. This is why so many beginning drinkers are so intent on finding drinks where you can't taste the alcohol... their brains haven't adjusted yet. I've got a very strong culinary background, as well as having been an enophile long before I was into cocktails. So I approached cocktails from a slightly different angle. In messing around with the various cocktail recipes, I was always looking for the unique flavor profiles, the balance, the nuance of the art. The balancing of flavors, just like I would do with a fine sauce, was clearly something that seperated a mediocre cocktail from an exceptional one. Bitters, a product which has almost totally disappeared from the bartenders lexicon, became one of my primary passions. It struck a cord with me in how it very carefully accentuated the flavor of the drink. And in looking through various pre-prohibition bartenders guides, I came to realize that this is exactly how many of the old masters worked their craft... even if many of them didn't fully realize it. Lots, and Lots of people out there are drinking, and quite satisfied with, very mediocre cocktails. It's not because they are backwards, or even wrong, it is just that they perhaps haven't been exposed to a truely well-made drink. It's not that much different from back in the early 80's when people were still proudly drinking canned coffee, and didn't even realize that there was something better. I'm a cocktail evangelist. I view it as my role to try to expose people to some of the more facinating and exciting aspects of cocktails as a culinary artform. At times, I may end up being just a tad over-the-top and heavy handed, but it is just my way of trying to get folks attention :-> -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Pardon me if I take this opportunity to pull up a little soapbox that I keep in my back pocket... :-> Cocktail vs. Martini It has always bothered me when folks refer to almost anything as a "Martini". There are bartenders who insist that anything served in a "Martini" glass (actually sir, that is called a "Cocktail" glass), is a Martini. The Martini is "A" cocktail, it is not a category of cocktails. When you see restaurants with multiple drinks listed in their "Martini Menu", what they actually have is a "Cocktail Menu". But since John Q. Public has created this "mystique" around the Martini, they feel that they can make these cocktails more appealing if they fool people into believing that what they are actually having is a Martini. Cuisine de Cocktail It also bothers me with these folks that think a properly made Martini is just a glass of ice-cold booze. A "Cocktail" (of which a Martini is one) is a drink that is made from several different ingredients, carefully balanced, so that the individual flavors blend and compliment one another. The result (when properly done) is something akin to a fine french sauce, a new flavor experience. Vodka, shaken with ice, and poured into a cocktail glass, is -not- a cocktail. In fact it's not even a Mixed Drink (of which the Cocktail is a sub-category). It's just a glass of chilled vodka. A Martini should include enough vermouth to balance the flavor of the gin. This whole thing about "the dryer the better", and that being "dryer" means adding less and less dry vermouth, is frankly just an excuse to "attempt" to increase the alcohol content of the drink. If you go back through history and locate the folks who claimed this is how they loved their Martini's, they were all alcoholics, or borderline alcoholics. -and- they all occured right after prohibition, which was sort of a "cocktail lobotomy" to the entire nation. Dry Martini The term "Dry Martini" originally (ie. pre-prohibition) was used to indicate that you wanted your Martini made with "dry vermouth" instead of "sweet vermouth" (as was the original ingredient). This exact same nominclature is still in use today for the Martini's older brother, the Manhattan. A "Dry Manhattan" is made with dry vermouth, not less sweet vermouth. It's The Water Lastly (ok, perhaps not really lastly, but at least lastly of what I'm going to spout off about in this post :-), is the notion that some people have of putting all of the ingredients and tools for making a Martini into the freezer to get them really cold. Their "intent" here is that by making the gin, vermouth, glasses, shaker, etc. as cold as possible, there will be less dilution of the drink by the ice. Again, this falls back into the "increase the alcohol content of the drink"... which really is not the point. If you are wanting a drink with maximum alcohol content, just stick with everclear. The water that dilutes from the melting ice is an -important- part of the cocktail making process. It provides a necessary softening and rounding out of the drink. -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

Unfortunately, this is not quite right. There are "a few" Whiskies made in Canada which have high levels of rye in their mash, and at least one which is 100% rye. But most of the Canadian Whiskies have less than 50% (often far less) rye... and yet folks still refer to them (incorrectly) as rye. American Rye Whiskies on the other hand, contain at least 51% rye, usually far more. The whiskies that use a majority of corn in them are "Bourbon", which is not the same thing as rye. One issue is that the term "Bourbon" is a protected classification, and to be called Bourbon the whiskey has to meet certain criteria. On the other hand "Rye" is not a protected classification, and while in the US the regulations require it to meet the exact same criteria as Bourbon (except that it is at least 51% rye, instead of corn), there is nothing that prevents some company outside of the US from just adding artificial color and flavor to a vodka and calling it rye (they just couldn't sell it in the US). American Ryes, and American Bourbons also are not blends. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

There "officially" isn't really any such thing as a "Double Malt", although there are a couple of distilleries that market their product as such. The reason for this requires a little explaination of what a "Single Malt" is. Many people think that a "Single Malt" might be a reference to it's being made from a single grain, or perhaps from a single "run"... in which case a "Double Malt" might mean that the recipe used two different grains, or perhaps it might mean that the distiller blended two different batches, or some other gymnastic to arrive at Double Malt. In actuallity, the term "Single Malt", means that the product is sourced from a single distillery. So if "Laphroig" makes a "Single Malt", that means that all of the distilling of the product came from Laphroig. That's it. And a "Blended" scotch, means that the resultant product is a blend of not only several different scotches, perhaps from several different distilleries, but also it can have neutral grain spirit added to it as well as other products in order to arrive at the product the manufacturer had in mind. The only thing that could truthfully be called a "Double Malt", would be for a manufacturer to take two different single malts (ie. two different scothes from two different distillers) and blend them together... although this should officially be called a "blend", since there is no recognition of the term "double malt" as a label designation. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

No, Canadian Whisky is not "Rye", even though lots of folks mistakenly refer to it as such. Rye Whiskey is American. And prior to prohibition, it was the most popular of the American Whiskey's. During prohibition, since the American distillers had to be shut down, no "real" Rye was being made... but folks continued to ask for rye, and so the Canadian Whisky folks were there and ready to push their product into that slot... after all, it did contain "some" rye in its blend didn't it? Real Rye Whiskey is made from a recipe (aka. Mash Bill) that contains at least 51% Rye, the remainder can be taken up with corn, wheat, or barley. It is aged in -new- oak barrels, and is not "blended" with anything except for other barrels of rye (and water, to bring it's barrel strength down to the 80-100 proof required). Canadian whisky on the other hand can be made from any mash bill they choose. Can be stored (aging is not a requirement) in old or new barrels, and can be (and almost always is) blended with other products (usually grain distillate). For American Whiskey, Maker's Mark is a very good "all purpose" Bourbon, perhaps a tad on the expensive side, but it works really well for almost all cocktails. Unfortunately, ever since prohibition, the manufacture of rye has never returned to it's pre-prohibition levels, and so while there are several dozen different Bourbon's available, there are only a handful of Rye's. "Old Overholt" is a Rye that is not only pretty inexpensive, but it also is a pretty good (although not great) rye. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

What always surprises me about this whole "James Bond" thing, is that: A) We shouldn't drive like James Bond B) We shouldn't treat women like James Bond C) We shouldn't think we can win at gambling like James Bond D) We shouldn't kill people like James Bond ...so how come we think he should be our model for drinking? -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

Shaking does not "bruise" the gin... this was just a cute turn of phrase that has been turned into a religion :-> The purpose of both shaking and stiring is to chill the drink down -and- dilute it slightly with added water from the melted ice. Shaking will chill the drink down faster then stiring. Stiring doesn't dilute the drink as quickly as stiring. Take these two facts together, and as long as you stir/shake long enough to chill to the same temperature, you also end up with "basically" the same amount of dilution. So from a technical standpoint there is no difference between the two. However... Shaking a drink will also trap air bubbles in the drink, and you will thusly end up with a "cloudy" drink when you pour it out. A stirred drink will pour out almost crystal clear. So the rule of thumb, which few bartenders these days knows, is that if the drink is constructed with "transparent" ingredients, you stir it. If you add a non-transparent ingredient (ie: juice, cream, egg, etc.) then you might as well shake it, since it will end up cloudy either way. -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

Not to be pedantic, but this drink clearly is not a "Martini". A "Cocktail" perhaps, but definately not a "Martini". -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

Busboy... I am not a bartender, but a customer. And so if I want to say that most customers are ignorant dolts, then who better qualified? :-> And the truth of the matter is that most bartenders that I encounter are ignorant dolts as well. So there :-> :-> I had a bartender just the other day tell me that you really couldn't make any good cocktails with bourbon. "Why?" I asked him, with perhaps just a little bit of shock in my voice. "Because it is a brown liquor, and you shouldn't shake drinks made with brown liquor." he replied with an attitude of athority. "Really? Where did you learn that?" "Oh, it was just something I read somewhere." ....sheeeshhhh. And this was a fine-dining restaurant, owned by one of the cities more celebrated chef's. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Rapping... this isn't intended as a slam against you, you just "tickled my peeve"... I often hear bartenders use the old adage of "The customer is always right" to excuse any amount of ignorance they might have about the "right" way to make a cocktail. The fact is, that the customer is usually an ignorant dolt, who doesn't know the difference between Brandy and Whiskey. True, if they say: "I prefer my old fashioneds to be topped off with soda", then yes, they are right about that. However if they say: "The proper way to make an old fashioned is to top them off with soda", then they would be flatly wrong. The way that I see it, there are four different "categories" of bartenders (borrowed and expanded upon from the book "Culinary Artistry"): 1. Chore You'd rather be doing anything but bartend. But hey, it helps pay the bills. You've learned to memorize enough recipes to keep your customers happy, and nobody complains, much. And if you can toss bottles around and look cool, you might even be able to score a date for tomorrow night. When a customer asks for a drink that you don't know, you ignore them until they wise up. After having one of your drinks a customer might think to themselves: "Well, at least it was cheap" 2. Trade You "think" you want to be a bartender. Money appears to be pretty good, and the demands really aren't that tough. You talk with some of your fellow bartenders to get pointers on how you can improve. You often learn new drinks from your customers. After having one of your drinks a customer might think to themselves: "One more and I'll get a good buzz" 3. Craft You take your bartending seriously. You even spend off-hours often doing some research into cocktails and spirits so that you understand them better. Other bartenders, even from other bars, rely on you to help them with recipes, product info, or advice. You like to introduce your customers to a new drink. After having one of your drinks a customer might think to themselves: "What a great drink" 4. Art You identify yourself with being a bartender. You know that when you make a Manhattan you need to use different amounts of sweet vermouth based on the brand and type of whiskey the customer asked for. You have three different "bitters" that you make yourself, and know precisely which cocktails to use them in. After having one of your drinks a customer might think to themselves: "Isn't life wonderful" (and not because they are inebreated) Of the above, it might be appropriate to say that for a "Chore" or "Trade" bartender that "The customer is always right". However in "Craft", the customer is to be listened to, but with the knolwedge that the bartender is really the one that knows the drink, and they also know what information to get from the customer in order to make the drink the right way. And lastly in "Art", the customer puts themselves totally in the bartenders hands. The customer might normally order their old fashioned topped off with soda, but they know that whatever the bartender serves them will be the best old fashioned they have ever had. Using phrases such as "The Customer Is Always Right", is demeaning to you as an individual... sure, the concept behind it is to just make the customer happy, because a happy customer will hopefully tip well. But the equation is far more complex then that. The higest paid chef's in the world are the ones that know the customer usually has no clue what good cuisine is, and it is their job to enlighten them. </peeve> -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

I'm featuring the "Singapore Sling" on my website currently, along with a little more information about it's history and proper construction. http://www.drinkboy.com/Cocktails/recipes/...aporeSling.html At the moment, my server is having some problems, and is prompting for a password to get in :-< trying to get the techs to fix it. Anytime a cocktail becomes "popular" but it's authentic recipe is not easily found (or it is "carefully guarded") we will see wild variations in the recipe cropping up as various bartenders attempt to simulate it when a customer comes in and asks for one. Usually they base their simulations simply on the customer saying things like "well, it was sort of reddish, fruity flavored, and I think he said it used gin." If the customer seems to like it, then that bartender will not only use this recipe, but pass it on as well. It always disturbs me greatly when I see such "sham" recipes being unfortunately propogated as the right way to make the drink. Here is the recipe as currently in use by Raffles: Singapore Sling 1 1/2 ounce gin 1/2 ounce Cherry Herring brandy 1/4 ounce Cointreau 1/4 ounce Benedictine 4 ounces pineapple juice 1/2 ounce lime juice 1/3 ounce grenadine dash bitters Shake with ice. Strain into an ice filled collins glass. Garnish with cherry and slice of pineapple. (basically the same as was provided by Suvir Saran earlier in this thread) I have been to Raffles, and had the Singapore Sling there, and like Wilfrid, I was quite dissapointed. They were making them in huge quantities, and what I was served was "not" what is listed in the above recipe, since I've made it as listed, and it tastes great. For the Singapore Sling, it is important that it includes "Benedictine", this is sort of the "secret ingredient" for this drink, kind of like the chocolate in "Mole Nego". The Singapore Sling as it curently is served at Raffles... unfortunately is most likely not the "original" recipe. Apparently the drink wasn't served there for a while, and everybody forgot how it was made. So they "recreated it" based on some written notes that they found, as well as memories of former bartenders and customers. One story even has it that they ended up relying on a hastily scrawled recipe on the back of a napkin that a former customer was able to produce. Some feel that the original recipe was perhaps a drink that came to be known as the "Straights Sling", which is very similar to the Singapore Sling, but with some slight differences: Straits Sling 2 ounces gin 1/2 ounce dry cherry brandy 1/2 ounce benedictine 1 ounce lemon juice 2 dashes of orange bitters 2 dashes of Angostura bitters Shake with ice. Strain into an ice filled tumbler or collins glass. Fill with soda water -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Is Israeli arrack the same as Batavian arrack? If so, try this: Arrack Punch Combine in mixing glass: 1 1/2 oz Arrack 1 oz rum 1/2 oz lime juice 1/2 oz simple syrup 3 oz distilled water Shake well with cracked ice, pour unstrained into a tall glass and garnish with a few raspberries and wedges of orange. Lance with straw and serve. The above is based on a recipe by Jerry Thomas, published in 1862. -Robert

Great article, this guy is definately a kindred spirit. Be sure to check out his website at: www.VintageCocktails.com. It's a beautiful site with some great information. -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

Paul Harrington is one of the writers for this site.... which is why a lot of the information is similar to (if not the same as) what he wrote for www.CocktailTime.com Last time I talked with the folks from Bar.tv they were in the process of doing a bit of a "reset" on the site and some of its content. I'm not sure if they yet consider themselves "officially launched". -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Well, we've got it here in Washington State, and since our liquor setup here is pretty backwards, I'd be surprised if it wasn't generally available in most other states as well. But don't take my word on that... Anybody wanting to check out the availability (and price, and store that sells it) of a liquor product in Washington can use this site: http://www.liq.wa.gov/services/brandsearch.asp It's very handy. I keep it on my "Favorites" of my internet enabled PDA so that when I'm in a bar, and ask for a cocktail that requires a product the bartender doesn't stock, if they complain about not being able to find it, I can help their bar manager locate it somewhere. :-> -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Non Carbonated Ginger Beer: Technically, this is probably better refered to as a "Ginger Tisane". Here is a recipe that I have for this: Ginger Beer/Tisane 2 gallons bottled water 2 1/2 pounds gingerroot 1 cup hot water 4 limes (juiced) 2/3 to 1 cup light brown sugar In a large, nonreactive stockpot, bring the bottled water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile, working in small batches, place the ginger into a food processor and add 1 cup hot water to make mincing easier. Process until minced; pour the mixture into the pot. Continue until all of the ginger has been minced and added to the pot. When the water comes to a boil, turn the heat off. Add the lime juice to the pot. Add the brown sugar and stir well to dissolve. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Strain the liquid through a fine strainer or a double layer of dampened cheesecloth. Pour through a funnel into containers. Store for up to 1 month, but try to use when fresh, as the potency of the ginger fades with time. I got this from Audrey Saunders, the Beverage Director of the Carlyle hotel in New York. She uses it to make her "Gin Gin Mule": The Gin-Gin Mule 3/4 oz fresh lime juice 1 oz simple syrup 6 mint sprigs 1 oz ginger beer 1 1/2 oz Tanqueray gin Club soda (optional) Pour the lime juice, simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water shaken well), and mint into a mixing glass; muddle gently. Fill the glass with ice, and pour in the ginger beer and gin. Shake vigorously. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Add a splash of soda (optional). Garnish with a mint spring. -Robert Hess www.DrinkBoy.com

What you get "used to" will very much determine what you think is "the right way". I am thankful that the version of the Mai Tai that I got used to originally was the Trader Vic version, and not the pineapple version. To help figure out if the base ingredients you are using are the right ones, mix up a Mai Tai according to what you find on my site (or similar). If it is too sweet, then add a dash of lime juice, stir, then try again. (don't use "sour mix", or any commercial lime juice stuff) If it isn't sweet enough, then try to notice how much you can distinquish the almond flavoring, if very slight, then add extra orgeat to sweeten, otherwise use the orange curacao to sweeten. If the sweet and sour is over-powering the rum, then add more rum :-> With a little gentle tweeking like this you should be able to determine if this recipe is along the lines of what you are wanting... This is essentially the way that I arrived at the recipe that I list on my site, which ended up very similar to the TV recipe... although mine doesn't use simple syrup. A lot of bartenders that I ask about how they do their Mai Tai's just say "rum and a bunch of juices". And chinese restaurant bartenders aren't any different. If the "Mai Tai" becomes one of their mainstays, then they will over time "perfect" their recipe in one direction or another, but who's to say if they end up using the TV recipe, or something else. Back in the original days of the Mai Tai, this was one of TV's prized recipes. You'll note that in none of the TV books of the day will you find it listed. This meant that when a TV customer went to another bar, and asked for a Mai Tai, it was necessary to "re-invent" it based on whatever the customer could tell them that they thought they tasted. This is why there are several variations that all go by the same name. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com

Scott, The recipe for a "Chinese Restaurant Mai Tai" is going to vary just as much as any bodies personal opinion will. It was at a Chinese Restaurant near me (Chopsticks) that I first encountered a real Mai Tai and promptly fell in love with it. While at most places I try to vary what I have from one drink to the next, at this restaurant I always have a Mai Tai, in fact they usually bring me one with out my having to say anything. Some time later, I was at another Chinese Restaurant and saw "Mai Tai" on the menu... so I ordered it... it was a totally different drink. For one thing it had Pineapple juice in it, which totally changes the flavor. It was at that point that my interest was sparked as to why two different drinks, going by the same name, could have such radically different recipes. Back then, I wasn't "DrinkBoy", and knew very little about cocktails, but this was one of the events that was to play a role in my "cocktail" development. I started researching the various recipes for a Mai Tai. Every time I saw a cocktail/bartending book in a store or library, I would look up their recipe for a Mai Tai, and as you might expect, it got quite confusing. This was before the web, and so researching this sort of thing was quite a bit different then it is today. I was not only trying to find out the "truth" behind the Mai Tai, but also find a recipe that tasted like the way Chopsticks made theirs. Eventually, I just asked the owner of Chopsticks what his recipe was :-> A version of which you will find on my website. A recipe which I was later to learn was essentially the original Trader Vic recipe, which is the original Mai Tai. When the owner of Chopsticks got married, I was invited to the wedding (hows -that- for proving that I am a regular at his restaurant! :-) There, he revealed to me one of his secrets... they don't actually make their Mai Tai's from scratch, but use the Trader Vic mix, which his local distributer was no longer carrying, and so they had to switch to a different (and far inferior) brand... I quickly put him in touch with the Trader Vic company directly, and he now orders directly from them. Personally, the Trader Vic Mai Tai mix is the -only- "bottled mix" that I endorse. For a commercially made mix it is of very good quality. One of the ways they achive this is by not even trying to be a "just add rum" mixture. They still require you to add -fresh- lime juice. All of the other bottled mixes that I know of use various artificial ingredients in order to add the "lime" taste, and fail miserably. If you found the Mai Tai's you made too sweet, then don't add the simple syrup, just use the orgeat for the sweetner. A Mai Tai should not be an overly sweet drink, there should be a very good balance between the sweet and the sour, and the almond flavoring should sit nicely in the background. I like to use a float of dark rum on mine, and then drink it through a straw... this way the dark rum gradually floats down into the drink and keeps the flavor going as the ice melts. Give the recipe on my site a try (I usually just use Bacardi gold rum, and Myers Dark rum). It is one that meets with a lot of positive response from bartenders and customers alike. -Robert www.DrinkBoy.com