Post #771164 by LeftarmofBuddha on Wed, Dec 14, 2016 11:06 AM

I am in middle Tennessee just south of Nashville and we have no Tiki Bars at all. Friends have said I need to open one. The best drinks I have had pretty much always have a funkier Jamaican rum in them so I totally get you on the zombies you have had at that bar and made for yourself at home. And the more ice, the better! And just to be clear, yes, I got really interested in Hurricane Hayward's Mai Kai Tribute recipes and found them to be the best tasting drinks I have been able to make. At the time, they were using Kohala Bay as their dark Jamaican rum in most drinks and I had no way of procuring any so I followed the substitution suggestions he gave and mixed Smith and Cross 1:1 with El Dorado 12 year, bottled that and mixed it in the typical amount of dark Jamaican rum called for in the recipe. Both of those rums are delicious, combine into a really rich and tasty blend, but it is an expensive blend for me. When I tried the Hamilton Pot Still I realized it was a slightly cheaper and even more aggressive alternative to Smith and Cross. And Appleton Reserve or even Coruba can fill in for the El Dorado 12 year. There are differences in all of these but when you blend them and use on 3/4 to 2oz of this blend, it isn't a huge a difference. Here is a link to Hurrican Hayward's blog if you aren't already familiar with it. So much great info to be found here! http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/2012/05/08/rums-of-the-mai-kai-legendary-lemon-hart-returns-to-the-promised-land/#dagger

[ Edited by: LeftarmofBuddha 2016-12-14 11:13 ]

[ Edited by: LeftarmofBuddha 2016-12-14 11:26 ]