How many editions of Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide?

I know that the 70s revised edition is a very different book than the 40s 1st edition, but what about the printings in-between? Were there any differences, or were they strict reprints of the 1st edition?

To my knowledge, there are only two editions.

I don't know about reprints.

I have at least two different versions of the revised edition, and one of the original, also two versions of Trader Vic's book of food and drink. I can post pictures of anyone would like to see them.

I recently picked up a copy of the 1972 Revised Edition. It's a good book, but one pitfall is that the Trader relied on commercially-available drink mixes for many of the recipes. For example, the Tiki Puka-Puka calls for 3 oz. Trader Vic's Navy Grog mix. The components of Navy Grog Mix are a complete mystery, but one thing seems pretty uncontroversial: the Trader Vic's publicly-available mix is crap.

To those who own the 1948 version: are the recipes more complete? Specifically, are there recipes for the Navy Grog and Tiki Puka-Puka that enumerate the ingredients instead of just relying on the pre-packaged drink mix?

On 2008-04-07 09:26, BrickHorn wrote:
Specifically, are there recipes for the Navy Grog and Tiki Puka-Puka that enumerate the ingredients instead of just relying on the pre-packaged drink mix?

1948 Ed.
Navy Grog - not in index, nor is 'Grog'
Puka Puka - not in index

Love the dedication...
"...to those sweet ladies, gay Lotharios, and lunkhead bartenders whose fancy concoctions of spirits fermenti have made this volume possible"

On 2008-04-07 15:52, 54 house of bamboo wrote:

On 2008-04-07 09:26, BrickHorn wrote:
Specifically, are there recipes for the Navy Grog and Tiki Puka-Puka that enumerate the ingredients instead of just relying on the pre-packaged drink mix?

1948 Ed.
Navy Grog - not in index, nor is 'Grog'
Puka Puka - not in index

Dang. Oh well.

The 1947 book is more of an old style cocktail book. You won't find all the signature TV drinks that are in the 1972 book. There are recipes for a few "tiki" drinks, and they are quite different than in the later book. I think this may be because of changing tastes, over the years. For instance, 'The Colonel's Big Opu' used a full split of champagne (6 oz.) in 1947, 2 oz. in 1972.
From a tiki standpoint, I consider the 1972 edition a "must have", but if you can't get a copy of the 1947, don't fret. Not missing much, technically. More of interest for historical "pre-tiki" cocktails.

Honi Honi Cocktail (1947)
1 oz. Puerto Rican rum
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. apricot brandy

Honi Honi (1972)
1-1/2 oz. TV Mai Tai Mix
1-1/2 oz. blended whiskey

Zombie (1947)
1 oz. Jamaica rum
2 oz. Puerto Rican rum
1/2 oz. 151-proof Demerara rum
1 oz. orange curacao
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. grenadine
1 dash Pernod or Herbsaint

Zombie (1972)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1-1/2 oz. orange juice
1 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. grenadine
1 oz. curacao
1 oz. light Puerto Rican
1 oz. dark Jamaican

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-04-14 06:31 ]