Post #306059 by Chip and Andy on Sun, May 13, 2007 1:14 PM

On 2007-05-11 15:56, arriano wrote:
...So I ask, how far can you deviate from a drink recipe, and still call it by the name of the original recipe? Do any of you have your own personal standards that you go by?

Well, there are many drinkers here with many opinions, and all of them are wrong. And all of them are right. And the fun is in trying every new suggestion to see if it is indeed worthy of adding to your own menu of drinks.

I would offer the following:

If you change a major component of the recipe, you have changed the recipe to something new (i.e.. switch vodka for tequila).

If you change one or two minor components of the recipe like swapping lemon for lime or Cointreau for Curaco, you have changed the recipe enough to alter the name so as to avoid confusion (i.e. Pink-Slip Mai-Tai, Arriano's Mai-Tai).

If you are adding or subtracting to the recipe, the more you add the more you need to change the name. If you are adding juices to your Mai-Tai, you should call them Hawaiian or Island-Style. If you are adding lots of juices and floaters and flaming garnishes, you really need to change the name and make it something worthy of all of the extra work you are putting into the recipe.

Now, having said all of that, I offer these rules for your consideration only when dealing with 'those-who-know.'

If you invite your boss or neighbor over for drinks and they start to regale you with tales of this great drink they had in the islands that was made from fresh pineapple and etc. and more and more etc... and I think the called it a Mai-Tai, smile knowingly and go and get the hurricane glasses from the back of the bar and crack open that can of pineapple juice left over from the last luau....