So forgive my novice question. I was looking through Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide and saw the recipe for the Nautilus.

Nautilus

Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 ounces Ocean Spray Cranberry House mixer
1 1/2 ounces tequila
Shake with ice cubes. Pour into Trader Vic nautilus shell. Decorate with mint sprigs.

For the Ocean Spray Cranberry House Mixer..Seems odd that it is called out by name and company so specifically. Is that something different than just regular Cranberry juice or Cranberry Cocktail? Have done a web search as well as a search on here and can't find anything. Thanks.

That's not a novice question at all, that would bug me too...

I'm going to look in my "Trader Vic's Tiki Party!: Cocktails and Food to Share with Friends" book when I get home. It might shed some light on this mix, but I'm not very optimistic. The world of vintage cocktails is occasionally laced with dead or semi-dead-ends or archaic terminology, but the reward for digging is sometimes sweet success.

Difford's Guide shows that the "cranberry house mix" is interpreted by some as 4:1 cranberry to simple syrup. The "A History Of Drinking" site picks up on this and repeats it, possibly because there is little information available about the "cranberry house mix."

Someone else here on TC, however, may come along and post a whole treatise on the stuff. Until they do, take a look at this from Difford's and AHOD:

Nautilus
Recipe adapted from diffordsguide.com. Original recipe by Trader Vic Bergeron.
2 oz reposado tequila
2 oz cranberry juice
1 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
½ oz simple syrup

Ace recommends: Always use a good tequila - no Cuervo crap. For example, Don Julio.)

Glass: Collins
Garnish: Mint sprig

Shake with ice and strain into an iced Collins glass. Garnish. Drink. Enjoy.

Thanks Ace, I am going to dig further this weekend as well. I might even try contacting Ocean Spray, I know that it will probably be a long shot but you never know.

That's a great idea -- a lot of companies take customer service very seriously, and they may do some digging for you and come up with something. Best of luck in your search! Let us know how it goes. There are probably others reading this thread who would take your findings and give them a try in their home bars. Tiki Central discoveries often have quite a ripple effect in home bars.

Over the weekend I checked my copy of "Trader Vic's Tiki Party!: Cocktails and Food to Share with Friends" and did not see Nautilus listed. I also didn't see any references to "Cranberry house mix." I did not have time to check any of my other books, I'll keep it in mind the next time I'm camped out at my bar.

If you're going to a tiki event like The Hukilau, you can continue your research in person with some very knowledgeable bartenders and tikiphiles. Good luck in your quest! If I run into more info, I'll try to remember to post a follow-up here later.

Holy carp, but I did find a recipe for tuna poke' in that Trader Vic's book, and I must try that. In my experience, few mainland restaurants pull off poke' like they serve in the islands... Hopefully the Vic's recipe is one I'll come to enjoy.

Cheers!

Ace, Thanks for all the help. The TV book is a lot of fun. We have tried a lot of recipes out of it (not the Poke yet) I personally love the Hearts of palm salad and the duck crostinis. I have an email off to Ocean Spray so we will see what comes of that.

So I got this reply from Ocean Spray..

"May 22, 2015
Hello Karl,
Thanks for contacting us over here at Ocean Spray, where we pride ourselves for more than 80 years of taking great care in harvesting and manufacturing our products. It’s nice to hear from people who are as into cranberries as much as we are.
Unfortunately, we are unable to find any information on this product. We believe it may have been a foodservice product that was sold to bars.
Thanks for choosing Ocean Spray. Be sure to visit us again sometime at OceanSpray.com, where you can get all the latest information on our products, find delicious recipes, and join the Cranberry Club for special news and offers. And don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any more questions or comments. Or if you just want to say hello, we’d like that too.
Tastes Good. Good For You.

And Your Friends at Ocean Spray

9,052,223"

I have a sneaking suspicion they didn't look into it all that much. Which is ok, it is understandable that they could be very busy. It also could be possible that it was a mix made at the bar using Ocean Spray. Could it have (or was thought to have) been so commonplace that Vic didn't think it need the recipe in the Guide? The mystery continues I guess. :)

Bummer, but excellent try!

Keep digging, don't be discouraged. I mentioned earlier a 4:1 ratio to make the mix, so you could look further into how that may have come about. There's not much info about this out there, but you may turn something up.

On 2015-05-15 11:34, AceExplorer wrote:
Nautilus
Recipe adapted from diffordsguide.com. Original recipe by Trader Vic Bergeron.
2 oz reposado tequila
2 oz cranberry juice
1 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
½ oz simple syrup

Ace recommends: Always use a good tequila - no Cuervo crap. For example, Don Julio.)

Glass: Collins
Garnish: Mint sprig

Shake with ice and strain into an iced Collins glass. Garnish. Drink. Enjoy.

Follow-Up:

I made this for the first time last night, it has a nice red/pink color. I used Don Julio Anejo (I am out of the Reposado) and made these to taste-test with a friend. We found it to be an interesting and "pretty good drink." It was very easy to make with very easy ratios. More specifically:

• The tequila is nicely blended in this drink. At first this was a more cranberry-forward drink, and it mixed nicely with the lime juice. But then my taste buds alternated back and forth between the lime, cranberry, and smooth tequila. While not a top-notch favorite, we both came away liking this drink since we don't drink tequila very often.

• I used 1.5:1 simple syrup, and it definitely made the drink too sweet. I have concluded long ago that simple syrup is not at all "simple" in today's world. There are advocates in the newer recipe books for 1:1, 1.5:1, and 2:1 ratios for simple syrup. Some here on TC have entirely embraced 1.5:1 for all tiki drinks, but my 1.5:1 simple syrup definitely made this drink too sweet. I dialed back the sweetener by a third for the 2nd round and we both agreed it made an improvement. Based on my personal experience, I am committed to stocking all three ratios of simple syrup at my bar. For purposes of balancing a drink, I have come to consider this essential. I cannot see making drinks with just one simple syrup on hand anymore.
  Suggestion for cocktail recipe authors: Start telling us the ratio when you call for simple syrup.

• So, was this a "balanced" drink? I could not decide because the various flavors played with my palate back-and-forth in both rounds. I need to make more of these, and I need to try a different Don Julio tequila (the reposado) and possibly also a different brand of cranberry juice.

• We strained the first round, then strained the second round over ice. It was good both ways, so relax if this is currently the greatest worry you have in your life.

Our Conclusions:

• We thought that more tests are needed, and we agreed that we'd enjoy making more of these.

• Big surprise was that we deemed this a "party-worthy" drink and it is best made with good and smooth tequila. Not only is the flavor of the drink likely to appeal to most (as long as they enjoy cranberry) but it's also very easy to mix in batches. We noted that you can make these in large cocktail beakers and stir instead of shaking, although this would reduce immediate dilution and aeration of the drink and would not have the same ice crystals floating on top after shaking. And the drink would be darker red by stirring instead of more pinkish if you shake and aerate.

• While I don't drink tequila very often, I do like Don Julio better than Patron. For purposes of this cocktail, I think the two brands are interchangeable, so use Patron if you have it. If no tequila is around, then I personally recommend that you consider buying Don Julio.

• We think it's possible to use crappy Cuervo tequila (Yuck!) if our crowd is not very discriminating and can tolerate the Cuervo "burn," although the price difference between Cuervo and Don Julio may not make this a worthwhile substitution. I think that Cuervo is so popular that it may be overpriced, but we're not certain how much more the superior Don Julio costs. We're going to look this up later for our own curiosity sake.

• This cocktail was an excellent accompaniment to the movie "Hot Tub Time Machine" which we watched while we were drinking. That's just a good all-around tequila drinking movie... Our next set of tests may have us watching "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" to stay in that same tequila and craziness mindset. Think about it -- A hot tub as a time machine. Doesn't that just scream out for a night of tequila-based cocktails? I think it does. heh...

(Edited to correct some BBcode, and to fix a missing word.)

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2015-06-04 07:57 ]

For the price, I think Don Correlejo's reposado tequila is unbeatable! Great reposado for under $30 — fine sipper but also excellent in cocktails. I'm going to try it in a TV Nautilus at soonest convenience!

Thanks, S&R, I forgot about that... The friend who I was with last night is a big fan of Corralejo, and I'm surprised he didn't mention it last night. I'm going with it then, you can count on it. See you at The Hukilau!