Post #289988 by DJ Terence Gunn on Tue, Mar 6, 2007 8:35 AM

So the challenge is to go back and examine your cocktails from a holistic approach and include the smell of the cocktail as well as the taste. Think also about what the cocktail does in and to the mouth. Do your teeth feel fuzzy after a couple, or do you loose the ability to taste the second drink because something burned out the tastebuds and nose hairs from the first one?

Very well said. But that is, in fact, my point (about the over-all smell and taste of the cocktail once it's finished) concerning using Triple Sec over Cointreau or Curacao. Once in the cocktail (at least the way I prepare it, and using the ingredients I listed in my initial post) I do not taste or smell a difference to the more expensive brands and names. (And yes, I have tried all the others in my mai tais.) As well, buying Myers and Appleton are expensive enough, without having to superfluously indulge your pocket book to Cointreau and Curacao. (And I'm not talking about low-grade, knock-offs that claim to be Curacao.) Good rum and fresh lime juice are the most important factors, not the orange liqueur. And ice (cold temperature) is going to inhibit the flavour of any liquid anyway.

The other ingredients, however, if altered in measurement or substitution, will effect the flavour and smell of the cocktail drastically. Not having enough dilution of water (or crushed ice, if one prefers shaking the contents with crushed ice over not shaking the contents with crushed ice and using a dilution of water) can also surprisingly make or break any mai tai, as well. (The latter can also be said for martinis and manhattans -- which are supposed to be stirred, not shaken, as the shaking with ice will bruise the alcohol and smash the ice, which will dilute the cocktail.)

But once again we stray from the inital post. If one truly respects and appreciates cocktail culture, do not buy pre-made mixers of any kind for any cocktail, even if they have Trader Vic's written on the label or feature a tiki, palm tree, hula gal, etc. (I've a feeling a large amount of the good people who frequent this site would unwittingly substitute their regular toilet paper with a more expensive, less square footage, 1-ply toilet paper, if Trader Vic's had its label on it, or Shag his artwork.)