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

MAM mike and marie Tiki Socialite Sunken Studios \| The Current Year Joined: Jun 24, 2008 Posts: 443	MAM mike and marie Posted posted on Sun, Dec 23, 2018 4:07 PM On 2018-04-06 22:00, Hurricane Hayward wrote: Aloha Mike and Marie! You have good taste. The Shark Bite has always been one of my favorites as well. The tribute recipe is pretty close to what they serve at The Mai-Kai, IMHO. Instead of Barbados rum, it's possible they use a Spanish-style gold. You could also try adjusting the proportions of the lime, pineapple juice and sugar syrup. You'd be surprised at how big a difference a tweak as little as 1/4 ounce will make in a small drink like this. The Mai-Kai uses a very tart key lime juice and a rich house-made sugar syrup. Both are difficult to duplicate at home. Back up to this page on the thread for more on the lime juice blend I recommend: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=47293&forum=10&start=180 FYI: A majority of The Mai-Kai recipes are revamped versions of Don the Beachcomber classics, adjusted by Mariano Licudine (with help from owner Bob Thornton). They tweaked the ingredients, some drinks more dramatically than others. Here's a PDF that shows the ancestry of all the drinks: http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Mai-Kai-cocktails-ancestry.pdf You can find our full recipe list here for your perusal: http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/mai-kai-cocktail-guide/mai-kai-cocktail-recipes/ Okole maluna! Hayward, Appreciate all this info! Been a while, but we want to report back on our recipe testing experience... We tried your recipes soon after you posted this. Gotta admit, we had some doubts -- the Shark's Bite as we remember it at the Mai-Kai has almost a slight hint of red or ruddy brown to it, in color, so you would think that there's got to be some ingredient like maraschino cherry juice, or a rich cinnamon syrup, or even a small dash of grenadine. So in the past, we always tried one of these ingredients. We had serious doubts about your simplified recipe ... until we tried it. It was amazing! The color, too, had that hint of amber obviously from the rum. The Appleton 12-year made the difference. But the flavor and taste was so right on. We tried it with two different types of lime -- bottled and fresh -- and the drink was noticeably different in color and flavor. The fresh beat the bottled hands down. But then ... we were thinking about what you said about the very tart Key lime juice that the Mai-Kai uses. What could we use? Then it hit us: we've got a stock of something called old sour, which is an old recipe from the conchs of Key West. It's pretty simple, just fresh key limes squeezed, then a little coarse salt added, then it's bottled and it keeps in the fridge forever -- we always knew it as a condiment to use on salads, fries, shrimp, whatever. The Key West conchs put it on everything. For some reason we never thought about putting it in a drink. But "tart Key West lime juice" rang a bell, and we tried it. Bingo! Beachbum Berry just washed up around these parts last week, and when we saw him we asked his opinion on what went into the Mai-Kai Shark's Bite. "Oh it's basically just rum, lime juice and sugar syrup!" We vouch for you guys, it's simple, the proportions and types of ingredients matter, and it's a fantastic recipe! [ Edited by: mike and marie 2018-12-23 16:08 ]

On 2018-04-06 22:00, Hurricane Hayward wrote:
Aloha Mike and Marie! You have good taste. The Shark Bite has always been one of my favorites as well.

The tribute recipe is pretty close to what they serve at The Mai-Kai, IMHO. Instead of Barbados rum, it's possible they use a Spanish-style gold. You could also try adjusting the proportions of the lime, pineapple juice and sugar syrup. You'd be surprised at how big a difference a tweak as little as 1/4 ounce will make in a small drink like this. The Mai-Kai uses a very tart key lime juice and a rich house-made sugar syrup. Both are difficult to duplicate at home. Back up to this page on the thread for more on the lime juice blend I recommend:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=47293&forum=10&start=180

FYI: A majority of The Mai-Kai recipes are revamped versions of Don the Beachcomber classics, adjusted by Mariano Licudine (with help from owner Bob Thornton). They tweaked the ingredients, some drinks more dramatically than others. Here's a PDF that shows the ancestry of all the drinks:
http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Mai-Kai-cocktails-ancestry.pdf
You can find our full recipe list here for your perusal:
http://www.slammie.com/atomicgrog/blog/mai-kai-cocktail-guide/mai-kai-cocktail-recipes/

Okole maluna!

Hayward,

Appreciate all this info!

Been a while, but we want to report back on our recipe testing experience...

We tried your recipes soon after you posted this. Gotta admit, we had some doubts -- the Shark's Bite as we remember it at the Mai-Kai has almost a slight hint of red or ruddy brown to it, in color, so you would think that there's got to be some ingredient like maraschino cherry juice, or a rich cinnamon syrup, or even a small dash of grenadine. So in the past, we always tried one of these ingredients. We had serious doubts about your simplified recipe ... until we tried it. It was amazing! The color, too, had that hint of amber obviously from the rum. The Appleton 12-year made the difference. But the flavor and taste was so right on. We tried it with two different types of lime -- bottled and fresh -- and the drink was noticeably different in color and flavor. The fresh beat the bottled hands down. But then ... we were thinking about what you said about the very tart Key lime juice that the Mai-Kai uses. What could we use? Then it hit us: we've got a stock of something called old sour, which is an old recipe from the conchs of Key West. It's pretty simple, just fresh key limes squeezed, then a little coarse salt added, then it's bottled and it keeps in the fridge forever -- we always knew it as a condiment to use on salads, fries, shrimp, whatever. The Key West conchs put it on everything. For some reason we never thought about putting it in a drink. But "tart Key West lime juice" rang a bell, and we tried it. Bingo!

Beachbum Berry just washed up around these parts last week, and when we saw him we asked his opinion on what went into the Mai-Kai Shark's Bite. "Oh it's basically just rum, lime juice and sugar syrup!" We vouch for you guys, it's simple, the proportions and types of ingredients matter, and it's a fantastic recipe!

[ Edited by: mike and marie 2018-12-23 16:08 ]

Post #792030 by mike and marie on Sun, Dec 23, 2018 4:07 PM