Updates to The Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide on The Atomic Grog - Tiki Drinks and Food

HH Hurricane Hayward Grand Member (1 year) 16 miles from The Mai-Kai Joined: Jun 07, 2008 Posts: 1863	HH Hurricane Hayward Posted posted on Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:03 AM Destro100: Your attempt at completing your journey through "Remixed" is admirable. We're all counting on you. Kill Devil and hiltiki: An app and/or book sounds like a fine idea. If anyone wins the lottery and wants to back such an endeavor, you know where to find me :>) Sunny&Rummy, arriano and TikiTacky: I appreciate the kind words. I hope to share my plans shortly. But first ... mamelukkikala: So glad you asked about Ron Carlos. This is the kind of stuff I can share here in excruciating detail, rather than on the blog. Though I do plan to mention Ron Carlos in an upcoming review. I guess you could consider it The Mai-Kai's well rum for mixed drinks. It's cheap and serviceable, but nothing special. I'm sure it keeps the costs down and helps keep the bar in business, so I won't complain :>) When I saw it back there in the service bar, I sought it out and picked up the light, dark (actually a gold), "black label" (more like a traditional dark), and 151 ... It appears that the Ron Carlos brand is owned by Cruzan and is bottled at the giant distillery near Tampa that also handles other Cruzan product: http://rumconnection.com/uncategorized/florida-caribbean-distillers/ It sort of tastes like a poor man's Cruzan. When I bought it several years ago, I think the light and gold were just $9.99 a bottle. The Mai-Kai probably uses the light, gold and dark varieties as the base rum in many of the drinks, particularly the mild ones. The light and gold are pretty bland. The black/dark rum is probably the best of the lot. I've seen it used by a local craft cocktail bar of some repute, so I'm guessing it has some value. The fact that such a low-budget rum is included in many of the drinks just makes them even more impressive, if you ask me. It makes the precise recipes, high-quality juices and syrups even more important. As for mixing at home, I recommend using the regular Cruzan or something a little better just to even the playing field. [ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2014-03-04 12:38 ]

Destro100: Your attempt at completing your journey through "Remixed" is admirable. We're all counting on you.

Kill Devil and hiltiki: An app and/or book sounds like a fine idea. If anyone wins the lottery and wants to back such an endeavor, you know where to find me :>)

Sunny&Rummy, arriano and TikiTacky: I appreciate the kind words. I hope to share my plans shortly. But first ...

mamelukkikala: So glad you asked about Ron Carlos. This is the kind of stuff I can share here in excruciating detail, rather than on the blog. Though I do plan to mention Ron Carlos in an upcoming review. I guess you could consider it The Mai-Kai's well rum for mixed drinks. It's cheap and serviceable, but nothing special. I'm sure it keeps the costs down and helps keep the bar in business, so I won't complain :>)

When I saw it back there in the service bar, I sought it out and picked up the light, dark (actually a gold), "black label" (more like a traditional dark), and 151 ...

It appears that the Ron Carlos brand is owned by Cruzan and is bottled at the giant distillery near Tampa that also handles other Cruzan product:
http://rumconnection.com/uncategorized/florida-caribbean-distillers/

It sort of tastes like a poor man's Cruzan. When I bought it several years ago, I think the light and gold were just $9.99 a bottle. The Mai-Kai probably uses the light, gold and dark varieties as the base rum in many of the drinks, particularly the mild ones. The light and gold are pretty bland. The black/dark rum is probably the best of the lot. I've seen it used by a local craft cocktail bar of some repute, so I'm guessing it has some value.

The fact that such a low-budget rum is included in many of the drinks just makes them even more impressive, if you ask me. It makes the precise recipes, high-quality juices and syrups even more important. As for mixing at home, I recommend using the regular Cruzan or something a little better just to even the playing field.

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2014-03-04 12:38 ]

Post #710084 by Hurricane Hayward on Tue, Mar 4, 2014 2:03 AM