Recipe: QB Cooler vs. Vic's Mai Tai

We were lucky enough to attend the "Best Mai Tai" competition on the Big Island and we got to see Jeff Beachbum Berry's presentation on the mai tai. He proposed that Vic did indeed invent the mai tai, but based it on Don's recipe for the QB Cooler. We got to taste both and I was blown away by the cooler. There is a recipe for the cooler in the Don drink book, but the one Jeff had was from an artifact that he found and a little different. Here is the recipe that the bum gave us:
QB Cooler
1 oz OJ
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz honey mix
1/4 oz Falernum(he used Fee Bros, but I could only find Velvet Falernum)
1 oz Jamaican rum( Appleton VX or Special)
1 oz light Puerto Rican or Virgin Islands( I used Cruzan light)
1/2 oz Demerara
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 oz soda water
Shake everything then add soda and mix at the end. Garnish with mint.
I found that with the velvet at least, I wanted a little more falernum to get the nice flowery flavor.
There are definitely similarities between both drinks, but they both stand on their own as classics.

No ginger syrup? I'll have to try it without it.

Aloha Tiki Kaimuki - I was also there in Kona and really enjoyed Jeff's presentation. I'm not sure I buy Jeff's theory about Vic basing the Mai Tai on the QB Cooler - sure they both have the rum and orange flavors, but I didn't think they tasted that similar. Maybe back in the day with the very old rums. . .

I did learn a couple of things:

1. Falernum is pronounced "fa-ler-num" instead of "fal-er-num" as I had always said.

2. After tasting Jeff's version of Vic's Mai Tai, I'm finally sure that my home-made Mai Tais do taste "right" - I always thought they were too citrusy, but that's exactly how Jeff's Mai Tai tasted too. The problem is that's not what a Mai Tai tastes like at Trader Vic's - I've found them to have more of a rich depth and slight sweetness I can't duplicate at home. Maybe that's due to the restaurant using a mix instead of individual ingredients.

3. I was amazed at the range of flavors in the QB Cooler - someone at the seminar used the same description you did - floral - and that's exactly right. I'm not sure I liked the QB Cooler, but man what a range and depth of flavors. Donn Beach was a booze genius.

Hey Koolau,
Funny, we might have even been sitting next to each other. I'm looking forward to next years event. I guess they put it together within about 4 months, so there were some kinks that needed to be worked out- namely the competition needed to be somehow shortened and people should have had the option to taste all of the mai tai contestant's creations. I got a few, but really wanted to taste them all. They also need to get the QB cooler on the menu at Don's. I was getting tired of the sickly sweet island style mai tai's.
The Velvet falernum worked well, but I really need to try it with Fee Bros like Jeff suggested. I guess I have
to order it because I don't know where to get it around these parts.

Well, I finally got around to comparing the QB Cooler side by side with competing falernums- one with Velvet falernum and another with Fee Bros falernum. The verdict is... I have a nice buzz.
The QB with Velvet tastes a bit smoother. The Fee Bros falernum punches through the other flavors a little more. The differences are noticeable side by side, but if someone served me one or the other I would
be equally happy. Maybe after future tests I will swing one way or the other, but right now I'm just
grateful that I have the opportunity to be sitting around taste testing different types of falernum.
Life is pretty damn good.