Post #796101 by Swanky on Sat, Jul 6, 2019 6:41 AM

On 2019-07-05 16:06, mikehooker wrote:

On 2019-07-05 15:35, Hamo wrote:
At risk of derailing this thread into a Mai Tai discussion, the Bum's exposition on pages 64-69 of Remixed addresses some of the other questions above. From page 67:

"However, there is no Mai Tai listed on any Don The Beachcomber's menu printed before the Kennedy era. At least, not any Beachcomber's menu we've seen, and we've seen quite a few. When we contacted Phoebe [Beach] and Arnold [Bitner] about this, they referred us to an article in the October 2006 issue of Aloha Spirit magazine, which reprints what the magazine claims is a 1941 Beachcomber's menu offering a Mai Tai. But the menu is closer to 1961 than 1941. On this menu a Beachcomber's punch costs $1.10, while a 1940 menu in the Bum's collection lists the same drink for 60 cents. (The Aloha Spirit menu's 1941 copyright date is irrelevant, since every Beachcomber's menu printed between that year and the late 1970s carries a 1941 copyright.)"

I wonder if that copyright refers to the drink artwork? That seems to be the constant between our menus.

And speaking of the Mai Tai, and thinking of Vic's original formulation (and possibly complicating things):

Good info Hamo. I too have noticed the "exclusive for Don" bottling of J Wray 17yo on menus I've seen online and have pondered how that could be. Perhaps a few years later they lost the exclusivity, or maybe the Don version was just different than what was on the regular commercial market? What puzzles me, if Vic was serving Mai Tai's with a two ounce pour of 17 year old rum, wouldn't that make the drink prohibitively expensive?

I heard a bit of the history of this rum at Hukilau. That it was the Wray & Nephew 15 year, but for 2 years they could not export, so for one year, they bottle a 17 year version simply by accident. I can imagine Don buying up the whole lot, or trying to.

I've been discussing the Mona Punch with a friend and that's how this started. It seems clear that is a Don drink named for the rum in it, and when that rum ran out, the drink changed names. Some think it's Don's Special Daiquiri, and it was the Mona Punch. I wonder if "Punch" is also a rum name reference. "Zombie Punch" because of Dagger Punch and Appleton Punch rum?

So that .63 cent menu may be the oldest, the actual 1941 printing.