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 Fri, Jun 21, 2019 8:27 PM It may take some more time to update the blog, but I won't keep you guys waiting. I just posted similar info over on the "Kohala Bay Rum" thread, which I'll continue to update with details on the new substitutes and The Mai-Kai's new blend ... http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=45641&forum=10&start=255 There were three big reveals during "The Rums of The Mai-Kai" class and symposium at The Hukilau. Here are the first two: The results of the recent, extensive blind tastings (including Rum Barrels) using Plantation Xaymaca and the previous top recommended substitutes for Kohala Bay: As you can see, the top two remain. But there are three new blends on the list. I'll post extensive notes on these tastings here as well as The Mai-Kai rums page on The Atomic Grog. Next, I was able to piece together a more accurate history of the dark Jamaican rums employed in the back bars at The Mai-Kai with the help of manager Kern Mattei while breaking the news on the new Kohala Bay substitute ... The new blend was rolled out in April. Everyone who took the Sunday back-bar tour at The Hukilau got a taste of the multi-rum blend neat. I've tasted and re-evaluated all of the cocktails that use it. For the first time in years, you can taste the Jamaican funk in most of them, especially the Barrel and Suffering Bastard. I'll be updating all my reviews and adding tasting notes in the coming weeks. Sorry, I can't reveal what's in it, other to say it's similar in style to one of my suggested substitutes. Same concept, but slightly different. I suggest you taste all the drinks and see what you think. Some of the suggested substitutes listed above are still very close. I'd say it's a little funkier than Kohala Bay but not quite as raw and fiery. Unexpectedly, I ended up tasting every rum on that list above with the exception of the 1950s Dagger. However, there's a bottle in the back bar from that era that I still hope to get a sip from soon. As we were wrapping up on Sunday, owner Dave Levy was generous enough to share an unopened bottle of Dagger Punch ... This is the later blend, not the original Dagger. It's 87.6 proof, the same as Kohala Bay. The original Dagger was 97 proof. This timetable and the fact that Kohala Bay came immediately after the final Dagger blend, packaged in a similar plastic bottle, has led many to believe it's the same rum. After tasting them side-by-side at The Mai-Kai, I can assure you they're not. The rum in that bottle of Dagger had wonderful, rich molasses notes that I've never tasted in Kohala Bay, or any other current Jamaican rum. But that wasn't even the best dark Jamaican rum I tasted all weekend. Stephen Remsberg, my special guest at our Okole Maluna Cocktail Academy class on Saturday, brought a selection of rare rums that he generously encouraged us to use in abundant amounts, including this ... All I can say is "wow." It's the missing link between the '50s-'60s era, 97-proof Dagger Punch and the 87.6-proof version from the 1990s. According to Kern, The Mai-Kai used it for quite a few years when he worked behind the bar in the early '80s. But they apparently didn't save a bottle. At 97-proof, it packs the same wallop as the early Dagger and a similar taste as the later version. We put it to good in the class, mixing up two authentic Barrels 'O Rum with pre-batched ingredients provided by The Mai-Kai. All we had to do was add the rum. To complement the Appleton Punch, we used a white Ron Rico rum from the 1970s (also courtesy of Professor Remsberg). The result was unequivocally the best Rum Barrel I've ever tasted. No contest. Now I know what Mariano Licudine intended it to taste like. The same molasses notes are prevalent, but not quite as intense (possibly due to the age of the bottle, or the higher proof). But the heat and complex flavors were still there. Luckily, a third of the bottle remains for me to experiment with ... Perhaps we should be trying to duplicate the flavor of the 97-proof Dagger/Appleton Punch blend, not the 87.6-proof Kohala Bay. No guarantees, but I'll definitely be experimenting in the coming months. Okole maluna! [ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2019-06-22 19:22 ]

It may take some more time to update the blog, but I won't keep you guys waiting. I just posted similar info over on the "Kohala Bay Rum" thread, which I'll continue to update with details on the new substitutes and The Mai-Kai's new blend ...
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=45641&forum=10&start=255

There were three big reveals during "The Rums of The Mai-Kai" class and symposium at The Hukilau. Here are the first two:

The results of the recent, extensive blind tastings (including Rum Barrels) using Plantation Xaymaca and the previous top recommended substitutes for Kohala Bay:

As you can see, the top two remain. But there are three new blends on the list. I'll post extensive notes on these tastings here as well as The Mai-Kai rums page on The Atomic Grog.

Next, I was able to piece together a more accurate history of the dark Jamaican rums employed in the back bars at The Mai-Kai with the help of manager Kern Mattei while breaking the news on the new Kohala Bay substitute ...

The new blend was rolled out in April. Everyone who took the Sunday back-bar tour at The Hukilau got a taste of the multi-rum blend neat. I've tasted and re-evaluated all of the cocktails that use it. For the first time in years, you can taste the Jamaican funk in most of them, especially the Barrel and Suffering Bastard. I'll be updating all my reviews and adding tasting notes in the coming weeks.

Sorry, I can't reveal what's in it, other to say it's similar in style to one of my suggested substitutes. Same concept, but slightly different. I suggest you taste all the drinks and see what you think. Some of the suggested substitutes listed above are still very close. I'd say it's a little funkier than Kohala Bay but not quite as raw and fiery.

Unexpectedly, I ended up tasting every rum on that list above with the exception of the 1950s Dagger. However, there's a bottle in the back bar from that era that I still hope to get a sip from soon. As we were wrapping up on Sunday, owner Dave Levy was generous enough to share an unopened bottle of Dagger Punch ...

This is the later blend, not the original Dagger. It's 87.6 proof, the same as Kohala Bay. The original Dagger was 97 proof. This timetable and the fact that Kohala Bay came immediately after the final Dagger blend, packaged in a similar plastic bottle, has led many to believe it's the same rum. After tasting them side-by-side at The Mai-Kai, I can assure you they're not. The rum in that bottle of Dagger had wonderful, rich molasses notes that I've never tasted in Kohala Bay, or any other current Jamaican rum.

But that wasn't even the best dark Jamaican rum I tasted all weekend. Stephen Remsberg, my special guest at our Okole Maluna Cocktail Academy class on Saturday, brought a selection of rare rums that he generously encouraged us to use in abundant amounts, including this ...

All I can say is "wow." It's the missing link between the '50s-'60s era, 97-proof Dagger Punch and the 87.6-proof version from the 1990s. According to Kern, The Mai-Kai used it for quite a few years when he worked behind the bar in the early '80s. But they apparently didn't save a bottle. At 97-proof, it packs the same wallop as the early Dagger and a similar taste as the later version.

We put it to good in the class, mixing up two authentic Barrels 'O Rum with pre-batched ingredients provided by The Mai-Kai. All we had to do was add the rum. To complement the Appleton Punch, we used a white Ron Rico rum from the 1970s (also courtesy of Professor Remsberg). The result was unequivocally the best Rum Barrel I've ever tasted. No contest. Now I know what Mariano Licudine intended it to taste like. The same molasses notes are prevalent, but not quite as intense (possibly due to the age of the bottle, or the higher proof). But the heat and complex flavors were still there. Luckily, a third of the bottle remains for me to experiment with ...

Perhaps we should be trying to duplicate the flavor of the 97-proof Dagger/Appleton Punch blend, not the 87.6-proof Kohala Bay. No guarantees, but I'll definitely be experimenting in the coming months.

Okole maluna!

[ Edited by: Hurricane Hayward 2019-06-22 19:22 ]

Post #795818 by Hurricane Hayward on Fri, Jun 21, 2019 8:27 PM