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: 1867	HH Hurricane Hayward Posted posted on Thu, Mar 23, 2017 10:00 PM While we're on the subject of rum, I thought I'd provide an update on The Mai-Kai's standard white and gold well rums, which often are overlooked. Way back on the first page of this thread, there was discussion of Ron Carlos, the longtime budget rum that The Mai-Kai has used for many years as the base rum in many cocktails. During a January 2016 back bar tour, you could still see the Ron Carlos gold and white rums flanking Kohala Bay, the late great dark Jamaican rum ... While we know that Kohala Bay has since been replaced by Appleton Estate Reserve Blend , I wasn't aware that the silver and gold rums had also changed until my latest tour in February 2017. I never get tired of taking photos of this incredible wall of rum ... If you look closely down in the lower right, you'll notice that bottles of Appleton Reserve have taken up residence in the same slot where Kohala Bay was previously located. And on either side you'll also note new white and gold rums ... I confirmed that Ron Castillo is the new welll rum. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's not much different than Ron Carlos: A cheap but decent quality Spanish-style rum with enough body to serve as a base and keep expenses low. Ron Carlos is imported in bulk from the Virgin Islands and generally assumed to be provided by Cruzan. Ron Castillo is from Puerto Rico, and I've heard rumors that it might be bulk Bacardi rum. While Ron Castillo is the new white and gold base rum, I'm pretty sure that The Mai-Kai still uses Ron Carlos Black in a few cocktails as well. It fills the same supporting role as the gold and white rums, providing body and not competing with the rums that are used for flavor. It's typically the Jamaican and Demerara rums that do this. This combination of Spanish white/gold with Jamaican dark and Demerara (usually overproof) rums is a style that closely follows the Don the Beachcomber template going all the way back to the Zombie. The Mai-Kai currently uses multiple Appleton products from Jamaica, plus Hamilton 86 and Lemon Hart 151 from Guyana. The reason for my February bar tour was a visit by a special guest from Seattle, Justin Wojslaw of the Diller Room. Here he is with manager Kern Mattei ... Justin is a rising star in the bar scene and a huge Tiki cocktail enthusiast. I was happy to give him the grand tour on his first visit to The Mai-Kai. I was also pleased to learn that he's very much a traditionalist when it comes to creating cocktails, and he was blown away by his experiece. If you're ever in Seattle, be sure to look him up. Here's an in-depth profile with photos, video and recipes from Cocktail Wonk ... http://cocktailwonk.com/2016/05/at-the-bar-with-seattles-tiki-warrior-justin-wojslaw.html Okole maluna!

While we're on the subject of rum, I thought I'd provide an update on The Mai-Kai's standard white and gold well rums, which often are overlooked. Way back on the first page of this thread, there was discussion of Ron Carlos, the longtime budget rum that The Mai-Kai has used for many years as the base rum in many cocktails. During a January 2016 back bar tour, you could still see the Ron Carlos gold and white rums flanking Kohala Bay, the late great dark Jamaican rum ...

While we know that Kohala Bay has since been replaced by Appleton Estate Reserve Blend , I wasn't aware that the silver and gold rums had also changed until my latest tour in February 2017. I never get tired of taking photos of this incredible wall of rum ...

If you look closely down in the lower right, you'll notice that bottles of Appleton Reserve have taken up residence in the same slot where Kohala Bay was previously located. And on either side you'll also note new white and gold rums ...

I confirmed that Ron Castillo is the new welll rum. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's not much different than Ron Carlos: A cheap but decent quality Spanish-style rum with enough body to serve as a base and keep expenses low. Ron Carlos is imported in bulk from the Virgin Islands and generally assumed to be provided by Cruzan. Ron Castillo is from Puerto Rico, and I've heard rumors that it might be bulk Bacardi rum.

While Ron Castillo is the new white and gold base rum, I'm pretty sure that The Mai-Kai still uses Ron Carlos Black in a few cocktails as well. It fills the same supporting role as the gold and white rums, providing body and not competing with the rums that are used for flavor. It's typically the Jamaican and Demerara rums that do this. This combination of Spanish white/gold with Jamaican dark and Demerara (usually overproof) rums is a style that closely follows the Don the Beachcomber template going all the way back to the Zombie. The Mai-Kai currently uses multiple Appleton products from Jamaica, plus Hamilton 86 and Lemon Hart 151 from Guyana.

The reason for my February bar tour was a visit by a special guest from Seattle, Justin Wojslaw of the Diller Room. Here he is with manager Kern Mattei ...

Justin is a rising star in the bar scene and a huge Tiki cocktail enthusiast. I was happy to give him the grand tour on his first visit to The Mai-Kai. I was also pleased to learn that he's very much a traditionalist when it comes to creating cocktails, and he was blown away by his experiece. If you're ever in Seattle, be sure to look him up. Here's an in-depth profile with photos, video and recipes from Cocktail Wonk ...
http://cocktailwonk.com/2016/05/at-the-bar-with-seattles-tiki-warrior-justin-wojslaw.html

Okole maluna!

Post #774374 by Hurricane Hayward on Thu, Mar 23, 2017 10:00 PM