Recipe: Miehana cocktail - Trying to get it right

I made a couple Miehana cocktails tonight for the first time, but they weren't quite right. It tasted like booze and lime juice. First one was according to the recipe except I used Bacardi Select for the Gold rum and I used Malibu for the coconut rum. Too limey. I doubled the the pineapple and orange juice and another shot of Malibu. Better not real tasty. I switched to Myers dark...different but not much better. I added another shot of Grand Marnier and that seemed pretty good, although your judgment starts to get a little hazy after a couple... So to review I doubled everything but the Gold rum and lime juice. 1 oz Myers 1oz lime juice 2oz Malibu 2oz pineapple and orange juice 2oz of Grand Marnier. Its probably time for me to head over to Tiki-Ti to see how they make drinks so I have a point of reference. I'm trying to make them at reasonable cost / what I have in stock. Anyone have any suggestions?

[ Edited by: StanTheMan 2011-02-10 18:38 ]

I tried this out tonight per the original recipe and found it pretty tasty. I started out with only half the lime (as that was your complaint), liked it that way, then added rest of lime, liked it that way too. Nice lime-pinapple-coconut balance. I like this.

I used Cruzan gold (they call it dark, but it's gold) and 1 oz Crusan light with 2 teaspoons coco loco. what surprised me was that the grand marnier added nice balance-- i usually hate it in cocktails bc it doesnt seem to 'play nice with others.'

now, i cheated and used Rose's, so maybe fresh lime makes it too tart per your complaint. Also, maybe your use of dark rums fouled up the cohesion with the grand marnier. One other thing- I cant stand Malibu; for coconut rum recipes I just use light rum and throw in some coco lopez.

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2011-02-10 22:53 ]

I stood in the liquor isle at Stater Bros (grocery store) for a couple minutes... (Malibu or white rum and coco lopez... Malibu or white rum and coco lopez) I should have gone with my instinct and bought the coco lopez. I also wondered about halving the lime juice, but doubling everything else filled the barrel to the rim. The Warehouse restaurant rum barrels are semi-common around So Cal thrift stores so I use them regularly for the smaller drinks. The Harvey's buckets are my favorite for mai-tais with the wife. For parties or get-togethers I'll break out some of the rarer mugs. But I digress... We like the traditional Trader Vic's recipe except I add an ounce of pineapple juice, so maybe we prefer drinks a little sweeter...

I made 'em again tonight for the wife and her friends and they liked double recipe. Next time I'll try your coco lopez version. Mahalo for the input. Aloha

[ Edited by: StanTheMan 2011-02-11 19:07 ]

For the record, Cruzan coconut rum is superior to Malibu. I think it costs less too.

the only time I can ever recall liking a commercial coconut rum was when a buddy of mine paid us in draughts of coconut rum to help paint his house.

that rum tasted might fine! but, I think he had to re-paint our work. (he shouldn't have paid us midway through the job...)

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2011-02-11 23:44 ]

My vote goes for Cruzan Coconut rum as well. It's pretty good, especially in a Lei Lani Volcano

I've gotta comment: I made one of these a few nights ago and I think the original recipe is perfect the way it is. Of course, the right ingredients are important. Freshly squeezed lime juice is the only way to go. Ditch the Rose's. Use good, not-from-concentrate juices for the orange and pineapple. And the better the rum, the better the cocktail. I used Cruzan Single Barrel and Cruzan Coconut. Perfect. Just like that.

UPDATE: I made a Mai tai with the same limes and it was way too limey, so the limes were the problem, even though they were fresh squeezed.

Maybe they were big "key" limes? Maybe they were just bad... The stores in SoCal have lime mostly from Mexico right now. Perhaps I'll try the farmers market next time. Mahalo for the help.

Stan,

Limes can vary wildly (especially when maturity/ripness is thrown in as a factor) and, other than "key" limes, rarely do you get a varietal name to help you decide. FWIW, I use Bacardi 8 and Cruzan coconut rum. FRESH pineapple juice is key (the stuff in cartons is acceptable) because the stuff in cans is simply horrid.

HTH!

So I noticed about the limes, Thanks Jokeiii. Fresh pineapple never entered my mind but that's a natural. Fresh is always better. We have a tangelo tree in our yard so maybe a I'll experiment with that. Excellent suggestions all. Mahalo.

My rules (YMMV) for selecting limes: Skin should be light green with maybe some light yellow shading, very smooth and glossy. The shape sould be VERY round, with no "nipples" at either end.

HTH!

With so many special syrups, liquers, spirits, etc. that most tiki cocktails call for, it's often difficult to find a tiki cocktail recipe that your average non-tiki bar has the ingredients for. Last night I had a bartender at a local watering hole (Whistle Stop) whip up a Miehana. Had to settle for Bacardi and Malibu, but overall it was a pretty nice drink.