anybody ever tried substituting whiskey for rum in some of the tiki drinks out there?

I recently came across the recipe for TV's Eastern Sour, which looked to me like a whiskey version of a scorpion bowl recipe. Tried it out, and the Eastern Sour indeed tasted pretty much just like a Scorpion Bowl.

this gave me the idea that whiskey may work well as a substitute for rum in some tiki drinks, especially those drinks that are heavy in juice and liqueur components. I'm low on rum right now, but well-supplied in bourbon, so i'm going to experiment around with this.

the first drink i've tried out worked very well-- the Painkiller. Used Jack Daniels in lieu of a gold/dark rum, and the flavor profile changed very little (I typically use 2 oz booze in my painkiller).

any ideas for other rum tiki drinks that would work well using whiskey instead?

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2011-08-05 12:09 ]

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2011-08-05 12:33 ]

I've had the Eastern Sour. Great drink !! Even better is the Bourbon Special (IMHO).

It's a vintage drink that was served at (Steve Crane's) Kon-Tiki. Here's the recipe from (Beachbum Berry) "Remixed"...

.50 oz fresh lime juice
.25 oz sugar syrup
.25 oz falernum
.75 oz ginger beer
1.50 oz Bourbon
Dash Angostura bitters

Shake with ice cubes and pour unstrained into an old-fashioned glass

I like Knob Creek as a mixer (a good rye is even better).

There's also the Western Sour from the Kon-Tiki. I'll make you buy "Remixed" for that one. :)

I've never substituted it for the rum but a friend who was moving left me the remains of his liquor cabinet. I got in the habit of floating a half ounce of johnny walker to class up pretty much any tiki drink. You can definately tell it is there. Navy grog takes it well.

gabbahey

"substituting whiskey for rum in some of the tiki drinks"

Careful there Flipper, that smacks of heresy here :lol: :P :wink:

On 2011-08-05 13:26, MadDogMike wrote:
"substituting whiskey for rum in some of the tiki drinks"

Careful there Flipper, that smacks of heresy here :lol: :P :wink:

well, had my first Honi Honi, which is a Mai Tai using bourbon in lieu of rum.

so even Trader Vic thought of this topic!

Lets just replace our Tikis with clown masks then, Can someone please bring thePorpoise
back to Tikiland now? :) :) :)

On 2011-08-09 22:55, thePorpoise wrote:
well, had my first Honi Honi, which is a Mai Tai using bourbon in lieu of rum.
so even Trader Vic thought of this topic!

OK, then I guess it's legit, just don't start substituting vodka! :lol:

But-
:music: :music: Whatcha gonna do
When the whiskey ain't working no more
and life don't feel like before
Whatcha gonna do? :music:

Actually, I think the sub is better on drinks that feature the rum, like a Mai Tai.

Give this a try:
Make a classic Mai Tai (easy on the lime) and use St. James H'ors d'age and Glenlivet 12 YO. I think they work well together and for the Scotch Whisky drinker, this is a winner.

I've done that! It makes for a very different but unusually fine drink! A lot of smokey wood flavor, but if you drink The Glenlivet anyway you'll appreciate the pairing with St. James Hors D'Age. I generally use between .5 and .75 oz. of fresh lime.
What's missing though is a name for this drink. I call it "The Braveheart Mai Tai"

Never mind the Tiki Cocktail purists, The top shelf Whiskey drinkers out there (Most of them probably our Dads)
will not only bitch slap, but spit on you for mixing any good whiskey with fruit juices! :) :) :)

and a :drink:

Yeah but Chuck, that same thinking would also apply to aged rum. I wouldn't used El Dorado 25-year (or even 15-year) in a Mai Tai. Those rums were meant to be enjoyed neat just like single-barrel Bourbon.

El Dorado 25-year & Coke, yum. :) :) :)
Still have some El Dorado 25-year waiting for you John!

On 2011-08-10 07:31, MadDogMike wrote:

OK, then I guess it's legit, just don't start substituting vodka! :lol:

Bali Hai serves vodka mai tais. :)

Bali Hai serves vodka mai tais. :)

apparently, the new Trader Vic's in Sarasota does as well. (and also has a "guava mai tai," "mango tai," and "maui mai tai" per their menu).

Hoping to make my first visit there sometime soon.

[ Edited by: thePorpoise 2011-08-10 11:31 ]

On 2011-08-10 10:39, JOHN-O wrote:
Yeah but Chuck, that same thinking would also apply to aged rum. I wouldn't used El Dorado 25-year (or even 15-year) in a Mai Tai. Those rums were meant to be enjoyed neat just like single-barrel Bourbon.

Yes, and no... Look at what Vic was putting in the original Mai Tai. Wray and Nephew 17 YO was it? So, the good rum. But the way most people make their Mai Tai's, you are right.

I make my Mai Tai so that you can and should taste the booze and it makes a difference what it is. Most people make Mai Tais that feature lime juice and syrup, mine features good Martinique rum and good Jamaican rum, or, good Scotch Whisky.

In my book, if you can't taste the booze in a Mai Tai, and I mean really taste it, you are making it wrong and poorly. If you make a Mai Tai with top shelf booze and average shelf booze and no one knows much difference, you are not doing it right.

At the risk of being bitch slapped by my Dad, I wouldn't mind trying it!
you did not hear me say that though.

try what, the vodka mai tai, or the whiskey mai tai?

(you know, throwing juice and whiskey together can always be passed off as a whiskey sour- very acceptable to the old timers).

I don't drink vodka so it would have to be whiskey and John-O likes his Old time cocktails I know.

On 2011-08-10 11:06, Chuck Tatum is Caribbean Troll wrote:
El Dorado 25-year & Coke, yum. :) :) :)

Noooooooooooo! Say it ain't so, Chuck?

The horror, the horror!

Bear
:lol:

On 2011-08-05 12:57, gabbahey wrote:
I've never substituted it for the rum but a friend who was moving left me the remains of his liquor cabinet. I got in the habit of floating a half ounce of johnny walker to class up pretty much any tiki drink. You can definately tell it is there. Navy grog takes it well.

gabbahey

I experimented over the weekend with whiskey and navy grogs. I discovered that bourbon overpowers the flavors; that blended scotch works well but does change the flavor a bit; and that irish whiskey works the best in the navy grog as substitute for rum, it marries with the juices, honey, and allspice extremely well.

On 2011-08-10 11:35, Swanky wrote:

In my book, if you can't taste the booze in a Mai Tai, and I mean really taste it, you are making it wrong and poorly. If you make a Mai Tai with top shelf booze and average shelf booze and no one knows much difference, you are not doing it right.

Amen brutha,
I'll drink to that!

Jeff(btd)

I just made a polynesian paralysis out of the beach bum Berry book and it calls for bourbon, whiskey and it was good!!!! :). Very nice flavor.

Trader Dicks in Reno serves a Backscratcher which contains Bourbon, Orange Curacao and passion fruit. I made a variation with Bourbon, orange juice and pineapple juice and it had a different taste than rum, There is a separate Tiki Central post on the Backscratcher.

I've repeated substituting 3 oz Powers Gold Label irish whiskey and 2 teaspoons of Macallan 12 year old single malt for the rums in a navy grog, and this is an excellent combination, the single malt in particular enhances the allspice syrup very well.

picked up my first bottle of Tullamore's Dew, this Irish whiskey makes an excellent Painkiller and Navy Grog...

Tullamore Dew comes in "regular" and 12-year varieties. Which did you try? Sounds interesting...

I like :

2 oz.templeton rye, small batch
1 full can of canada dry ginger ale
dash of sweet and sour/ or fresh lime juice/ or orange juice

add ice cubes, stir and drink

Gotta say I am drinking more Old Fashion's & Manhattan's if I am in the mood
for a whiskey drink ( I have officially become an old guy from the 50s)
I have been enjoying "Makers Mark" in place of bars that don't have "Old Fitzgerald's"
now get off my lawn!

On 2013-04-03 10:45, AceExplorer wrote:
Tullamore Dew comes in "regular" and 12-year varieties. Which did you try? Sounds interesting...

t'was the regular, i believe.

(i tend categorize booze by price, it was the "$20" bottle...)

On 2013-04-03 13:59, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Gotta say I am drinking more Old Fashion's & Manhattan's if I am in the mood
for a whiskey drink ( I have officially become an old guy from the 50s)
I have been enjoying "Makers Mark" in place of bars that don't have "Old Fitzgerald's"
now get off my lawn!

same here, or a sazerac cocktail.

started this thread originally though bc i was utilizing whiskey when the rum cupboard was bare but i was in the mood for certain tiki drinks...

Just tried the Eastern Sour with a local Florida whiskey. Not bad at all. A whiskey sour is one of my favorite drinks made with Bourbon. I'm about to give the Eastern Sour a try with Bulleit Bourbon. Love me some Bulleit.

A Mai Tai variation with whiskey and/or rye like the Bluegrass Mai Tai from Smuggler's Cove that was featured on the Cocktail Virgin blog a while back is an excellent change of pace.

The Eastern Sour with Bulleit is where it's at.

Bulleit is good stuff and I have some on-hand, this may well be this evening's nightcap.

what was the Florida Whiskey, that new one from Winter Park?

On 2013-08-02 17:46, Sunny&Rummy wrote:
Bulleit is good stuff and I have some on-hand, this may well be this evening's nightcap.

Yep, a Bulleit Eastern Sour is very nice!

It is Palm Ridge Reserve whiskey.

I can believe a Painkiller would work out well - I think Pussers has got a scotch like aftertaste.
So has Woods 100 & I've only tried a little bit of Lemon Hart 80 but it was also there IMO.

On 2011-08-05 13:26, MadDogMike wrote:
"substituting whiskey for rum in some of the tiki drinks"
Careful there Flipper, that smacks of heresy here :lol: :P :wink:

I agree! Id go my own way & make new drinks.

Try:

Tikify a milk punch with pimento dram (like a milky Lions Tail or spicy Egg Nogg),
Tikify a Southern Bourbon Punch with a Caribbean tea like lemon & ginger, ginger & mint, cerassie or sorrel (for flavour combos try http://www.dalgetyherbalteas.com/ )

Things I made myself:

Bumbo Grog.
1 part honey mix, 1/2 lime (or any citrus), 1 water, shake of nutmeg & cinnammon, add some alcohol. Shaken with big ice cubes.
That's how I drink my Pussers. I can believe ships went out from Europe with whatever was on hand (so its open to experimentation).

Dodo
1/2 part falernum, 2 prune juice, 1 lime, bitters, add some alcohol. Blended.
I wanted to make a cocktail called a 'Dodo' - the main point being the use of liquor with a bird in the title (Famous Grouse, Wild Turkey) & prunes because you cook game with them... tikified! I ended up using Cockspur, it has a cock on the bottle don't ya know :wink:

On 2012-01-30 07:28, thePorpoise wrote:
I experimented over the weekend with whiskey and navy grogs. I discovered that bourbon overpowers the flavors; that blended scotch works well but does change the flavor a bit; and that irish whiskey works the best in the navy grog as substitute for rum, it marries with the juices, honey, and allspice extremely well.

I knew I'd read to try whiskey in a Navy Grog somewhere on TC - just made a Navy Grog with Bushmills in place of the rums & can confirm that it is surprisingly good! :)