Post #544837 by Hurricane Hayward on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 3:51 PM

Exact? Or official? I don't think we'll ever have 'exact' and I don't know what the qualifications would be to call it official.

The primary flavors of Don's #7 are grapefruit and cinnamon. You can make your own, or Trader Tiki has made it even easier... http://www.tradertiki.com/store/dons-mix/ and his stuff is fantastic.

Oh yes, I'm intimately familiar with the old grapefruit/cinnamon mix (first documented by Beachbum Berry in "Sippin' Safari," I believe). It seems to be more commonly referred to as simply "Don's Mix" so the reference to "#7" threw me for a loop. The Bum's research points toward a 2:1 ratio of grapefruit to cinnamon and this seems to work great in many classic recipes. Trader Tiki's product is a fine re-creation as well.

So back to the subject at hand, could this be part of the Black Magic recipe? My gut feeling is yes .... and no. It's certainly possible, and probably likely, that Mariano took many of Don's mixes and tweaked them to make them his own.

I do like GatorRob's point of view, though. It's much less frustrating to just sit back and enjoy the Mai-Kai drinks in the one and only place you really can and leave the recipes a mystery. I'm sure they will remain so anyway.

But I also understand that folks who live hundreds or thousands of miles away tend to get a bit stir crazy and need their fix. A faux Mai-Kai drink is better than none at all.