Post #762143 by Hurricane Hayward on Fri, Apr 8, 2016 11:17 AM

I wouldn't fret too much about the lack of cinnamon syrup in the cocktails at The Mai-Kai. They obviously taste just fine as they are. And you're free to keep using the recipes I've posted with cinnamon, though I plan to also post updates of them all. The one I was actually worried about was the Shrunken Skull, but that's fine without cinnamon. I'll post that update next.

As for some of the comments above:

AdOrAdam: "Why omit it?" I'm sure Mariano knew about it, but there could be many reasons. It could have been an attempt to streamline the recipes, either when he created them or perhaps later when he retired. I have a hunch that it was never there, but perhaps one day we'll have a closer look at his old notebooks to know for sure. The other thing to remember is he made quite a few changes to Don's recipes, at the owner's direction.

I'm told by current owner Dave Levy that his stepfather, Bob Thornton, worked closely with Mariano in tweaking and adapting (and renaming) Don's recipes when they opened The Mai-Kai. That explains why the S.O.S. is so different from Thee Dots and a Dash, among others. As you point out, Mariano had his own personal style and if you drink at The Mai-Kai enough you'll pick up some of the same things in many of the drinks (honey, Pernod, Angostura, allspice, falernum, etc.). Perhaps he thought cinnamon was just unnecessary. He also had his own codes and names for things to differentiate the recipes from Don's. Swanky has seen a few old recipes, which contain things we've never seen before (like "#7"). I hope to go into these distinctions more in the future if we can ever crack those codes.

As for the question about "fruitier, richer drinks in vogue in the late '50s / 60s," this may be the case toward the late '60s and into the '70s, but I think The Mai-Kai operated with its own agenda and didn't follow trends. As a tourist mecca, they had to please a different palate than, say, the Don the Beachcomber in L.A. that was frequented mainly by regulars. The Mai-Kai being dependent on tourists had to have a menu that pleased everyone, and rich/fruity cocktails played into this. There were also plenty of strong options for those tastes too. But in general it seems like Mariano took Don's recipes and made them more accessible, which I've pointed out in quite a few reviews.

CincyTikiCraig: I've been working on the Black Magic. Revised recipe coming soon. Don't worry, it doesn't suffer at all :>)

Re the Jet Pilot, I haven't made it with cinnamon since the early tribute recipes. The two Test Pilot recipes I cite don't use it either, though they both feature Angostura. As Limbo Lizard points out, that can sometimes give the illusion of cinnamon, especially when combined with rich syrups.