Recipes for "new" Trader Vic drinks

I noted that there are a few cocktails on the Trader Vic menu that are not in Trader Vic's Bartending Guide - at least some fairly recently concocted. Anyone know the recipes for:

Vodka Mai Tai

Symphony Punch

Peach Tree Punch

Trader Vic's Stinker

Scottsdale Cactus Bloom

Dallas Star

?????

Dallas Star on the menu says "tequila, lime, rum and agave nectar." My guess would be equal parts lime and agave nectar, like 1 ounce of each and you can feel out the liquors, they're probably some ratio of 1 ounce tequila 1/2 ounce rum or vice versa.

A Vodka Mai Tai, from what I remember, is 1 1/2 oz Trader Vics Mai Tai mix (non-consumer bar mix, not the retail mix) 2 ounces vodka and juice of one lime.

I'm a registered astronaut not a voter.

My menu also lists the Tabu of Seattle as the signature Bellvue, WA drink. It says that it was at the original Outrigger Lounge at the Westin Seattle. I don't have my TV bar guide here at work, it may be in there.

Here is a link to a Dallas News article which includes several Dallas TV's recipes, including the Dallas Star.

Vodka Mai Tai. Hmmm... All you will taste is lime, orange and a hint of almond. That's just... sad.

Especially as the Mai Tai is a drink where the other ingredients are supposed to accent the rum flavor..which means its supposed to have a good rum flavor..or its not a Mai Tai (in my opinion..) there are better things to do with vodka than trying to make a Mai Tai with it. (But I`m not a vodka drinker)

I had a Vodka Mai Tai at the pre-opening party in Las Vegas and it was more than just a Mai Tai with vodka instead of rum but I couldn't tell what the additional ingredient(s) might have been. I preferred the original Mai Tai better in any case.

That Mai Tai recipe is off. Instead of 1/2 oz. lime juice, it should read "juice of one fresh-squeezed lime." Using a regular-sized lime would yield 1-1.25 oz. of juice.

On 2008-01-16 13:22, JenTiki wrote:
Here is a link to a Dallas News article which includes several Dallas TV's recipes, including the Dallas Star.

Thanks for posting that link Jen. That recipe for Tika Puka Puka sounds interesting, but it lists TV Navy Grog Mix (choke-full of HFC no doubt)as an ingredient. Might anyone know how to make this drink truly from scratch, sans mix?

On 2008-01-22 19:58, Tiki_Cincy_Craig wrote:
That recipe for Tika Puka Puka sounds interesting, but it lists TV Navy Grog Mix (choke-full of HFC no doubt)as an ingredient. Might anyone know how to make this drink truly from scratch, sans mix?

I don't have my books in front of me, but try substituting Navy Grog ingredients for the mix quoted in the recipe. Take a look at the Ancient Mariner recipe in the Grog Log. That's actually a Trader Vic's style Navy Grog. I believe you're going to need Pimento Dram.

Speaking of Grog --- I noted today that on the TV menu a Trader Vic's Stinker is described as having "Jamaican rum, sloe gin and grog..." So perhaps a Stinker is simply a Navy Grog with sloe gin rather than both Demerara and white rums. hmmmm....

Just an FYI, I discovered that Peachtree Punch recipe is in the "Trader Vic's Tiki Party" book, and can be seen in the book preview available on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=G1b1hA6FBSUC&pg=PA79&dq=Peachtree+Punch&sig=vN7V6ePPHGC4f35AIVunuusr-aE

On 2008-01-23 06:21, GatorRob wrote:

On 2008-01-22 19:58, Tiki_Cincy_Craig wrote:
That recipe for Tika Puka Puka sounds interesting, but it lists TV Navy Grog Mix (choke-full of HFC no doubt)as an ingredient. Might anyone know how to make this drink truly from scratch, sans mix?

I don't have my books in front of me, but try substituting Navy Grog ingredients for the mix quoted in the recipe. Take a look at the Ancient Mariner recipe in the Grog Log. That's actually a Trader Vic's style Navy Grog. I believe you're going to need Pimento Dram.

In the '72 TV Bartender's Guide, the recipes for the Navy Grog and the Tiki Puka Puka both call for 3 oz. of TV Navy Grog mix. Extrapolating from the non-mix recipe for the Navy Grog, I believe this would be the proper recipe for the TPP:

TIKI PUKA PUKA
1 oz. orange juice
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/2 oz. pimento dram or allspice syrup
1 dash bar syrup
1 dash grenadine
1 oz. silver Puerto Rican rum
1 oz. dark Jamaican rum
1 oz. 151-proof Demerara rum
orange flower water
Blend all but the orange flower water with 1 scoop of shaved ice. Pour in a big goblet and add ice cubes. Decorate with a gardenia, and dash a bit of orange flower water on the bloom.

There were several inquiries as to the signature drink of the Trader Vic's Scottsdale, called "Cactus Bloom." Here is a link to the Phoenix Magazine that gives the recipe. I have also copied it here just in case the link is dead:

http://www.phoenixmag.com/dining/food-reviews/201005/scottsdale-cactus-bloom/

"The Scottsdale Cactus Bloom at Trader Vic’s (Hotel Valley Ho) uses several of our favorite ingredients. Bartenders combine ¾ ounce prickly pear syrup, ½ ounce lemon juice, 1 ounce limoncello, 1½ ounces pisco brandy and a cup of crushed ice in a blender. It’s briefly blended until it’s mixed but still has icy chunks. Finally, they pour it into a stemmed cocktail glass and garnish it with a sleek pineapple leaf."

Prickly pear syrup is a bright magenta or fuchsia pink when mixed.

Funny thing about the Cactus Bloom (at least to me) is that that recipe is the same one I've seen in a video demonstration from Trader Vic's Scottsdale. However, if you look at the TV menu, the ingredients listed for the drink include tequila as well as "fruit juices" (plural). So either they've changed the ingredients, or the recipe TV is handing out is not the same as the one they're mixing.