Post #252952 by Registered Astronaut on Thu, Sep 7, 2006 4:58 PM

George,
While I don't think the Yacht Club cocktail is anywhere near a Mai-Tai, and falernum is indeed very different from orgeat, I found much better evidence supporting the theory that trader vic had a few drinks and a lot of names.

Per the Trader Vic's Rum Cookery book

Tonga Punch:
2 Ounces Light puerto rican rum
1 dash grenadine
1/2 ounce curacao
juice of 1/2 lime
1 1/2 ounces orange
3/4 ounce Lemon Juice

P.B.2Y2
The drink for "The flyers" of WWII

1 1/2 ounces light puerto rican rum
1 ounce dark jamaican rum
1/4 ounce grenadine
1/2 ounce curacao
juice of 1/2 lime
1 1/2 ounces orange juice
3/4 ounce lemon juice

and listed right above that drink

Outrigger Tiara
1 ounce light puerto rican rum
1 ounce dark jamaican rum
one dash grenadine
1 dash curacao
1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce lemon juice

Sure, they have slight differences. The PB2Y2 and outrigger differ in one containing lime juice and the other not. The Tonga Punch is the same as the PB2Y2 but with 2 ounces light puerto rican, instead of one ounce light and one ounce jamaican. But c'mon...do we really need three different drinks this similar?

If you go through the recipes in this book, there are a lot more similarities than just these three. I makes me wonder if they were printed just for the sake of sheer volume rather than actual integrity