Post #91551 by Quince_at_Dannys on Mon, May 17, 2004 8:58 AM

I have to make a point here, as someone who has extensively tested I, Zombie's Mai Tai recipe, and find it to be the very best I have ever had. I happen to know this guy, he is the best mixologist I know--and he was mixing Tiki drinks before most people on this forum were with it enough to sneak a Bud out of their old man's fridge much less even hear of a Mai Tai. People are jumping on I, Zombie because his Mai Tai recipe contains Whalers, and then in the same breath praise the TV rums. Let me tell you, I love Trader Vic as much as the next guy, but the rums that bear his name are AWFUL. Not good at all; not worthy of the praise that folks here seem to heap on them and certainly not worthy to bear the name of the old master.

I must agree with him that Whaler's Special Dark (NOT the flavored stuff, that is bad) is a perfectly fine ingredient for mixing, and smooths out the flavor of the Mai Tai. It is not top shelf stuff--not appropriate for sipping. But it works excellently in drinks, has no rank, gasoline-like, offensive flavor that overpowers the drinks, unlike Vic's rum.

IZ, take some of the posts on this forum with a grain of salt, one guy admits to liking Coors Light, another advocates putting Red Bull in a drink. None of that junk is even fit to dump down the drain at my house.