What AreYou Drinking- Right Now?

After enjoying quite a few at Hulaween last week, I'm working on a revised tribute to The Mai-Kai's Zombie ...

New recipe coming soon!

Nice makeup Jim! Looking forward to the tweaked Zombie tribute recipe.

Cracked under 220 lbs

Down 23 lbs so far

Time for a drink

Frankie's recipe
369 calories :)

Special drink tonight at The Mai-Kai in honor of the Cutback surf band's CD release party ...

The Aloha Stomp features orange and grapefruit juices with passion fruit syrup, light rum and (the special part), a floater of Lemon Hart 151.

Yes, they've still got a bunch of LH151 stashed away, and this drink may continue as an off-menu special for those in the know.

just an Austrian red wine here, with a late-night bowl of home-made gulasch.

Couple of Ginger Smashes. I luv ginger so I added a bit more to my 2nd drink.
Cheers
INGREDIENTS IN THE GINGER SMASH COCKTAIL
2 matchbox-sized chunks Fresh pineapple
2 long, thin slices Fresh ginger root
1 tsp Sugar
1.5 oz 10 Cane Rum
.75 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz Berentzen Apple Liqueur
.5 oz Fresh lime juice
Garnish:
Pineapple leaf
Glass:
Rocks or Old Fashioned

HOW TO MAKE THE GINGER SMASH COCKTAIL
In a shaker, muddle the pineapple, ginger and sugar until they form a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and fill half way with ice. Shake briefly and pour (unstrained) into a rocks or Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Sazarac
2 oz Rye Whiskey, Dickel
1/4 oz simple syrup
3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
ice
1 barspoon Absinthe, put Absinthe in the martini glass twist around and throw out, (I drink it :D )
lemon twist

Luna- lets see those pics
I know u be sippin sumtin bruddah

Zombie (by name only) from Luau Larrys on Catalina Island.

Negroni from Bluewater.

Cucumber Cooler from the beach club.

Now I am drinking a Pacifico at the Sandtrap. Sandtrap is great! $1 tacos from 2-7 every day. $1 bud lights and $4 margaritas. Sandbar is a staple every time I go to Catalina.

:)

Regretting that I could not be in New Orleans for tonight's grand opening of Latitude 29, I'm paying tribute to the Bum and his crew with a 1944 Mai Tai, a "long pull" from his excellent menu:
http://latitude29nola.com

Couple of Ramos gin Fizz.
Cheers

Islander Special. Recipe from the defunct Moon Islander in Titusville, Florida.

Recipe can be found in this thread:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=26860&forum=1&hilite=moon%20islander

howlinowl

Not had a drink in a while...

First we had Planters Punch / Blue Margarita.

Then we ran of ice!

The girlfriend went for red wine, I went for sippers:

El Dorado 12 / El Dorado 15 / Pussers 15 :)

151 Rum Swizzle

Run Squeaky

Planter's Kula

All from Tiki Ti yesterday. They are coming out with a new mug before Xmas. Tiki Diablo is making it. A cobra wrapped around a tiki. Should be cool.

More to follow. Tiki Ti opens in a half hour...

Fine-tuning some Mai-Kai tribute recipes since the demise of Lemon Hart 151. Tonight it's the Skrunken Skull ...

Had another Islander Special last night. Managed to wrestle my wife's camera away from her long enough to take a pic:

"Ooga-ooga Ooga-Mooga", the lesser deities chant their approval in unison.

howlinowl

Had a couple Jet Pilots tonight. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Hayward Mai Kai tribute recipe in the past and since I recently made some homemade cinnamon syrup I decided to try the Steve Crane "Luau" version from Sippin Safari/Total Tiki app. I used Kohala Bay for my dark Jamaican, Flor de Cana as my "gold Puerto Rican" and of course LH151. I felt it was a very unbalanced drink. The intensity and uniqueness of the Kohala and LH were fighting for dominance over the falernum, cinnamon and pernod. Even with 10 ingredients (one more than Crane), the Hayward tribute manages to mesh all these interesting flavors into something far more cohesive and delicious, to my palette anyway. Has anyone else felt this way about the Crane recipe or did I do something wrong? The only thing I skimped on was the grapefruit juice which was from a bottle and probably from concentrate, but still 100% juice with no additives.

Since I was dissatisfied with the first drink and wanted to continue playing with the cinnamon syrup, I tried Hayward's v.2 recipe which calls for it (the first tribute doesn't) as well as OJ, which seems unique to a Jet Pilot. I found this one to be a nice drink on par with his first version. Of course then I wanted to make a third drink to compare this to his other recipe but felt two Jet Pilots in one night was adequate so I'll have to save that taste test for another night. At any rate, both Hayward versions are supremely better than the Crane recipe in my mind. Oh yeah, I did use Coruba instead of Kohala in this last one but pretty sure I used KB in all my other Jet Pilots which seems to suit them well.

Sorry, no pretty pics this time, just jabber.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2014-11-18 21:07 ]

Moonkissed Coconut
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz simple syrup
1/4 oz honey
1/4 Falernum
1/2 oz coconut milk
3/4 oz West Indies rum
1 1/2 oz gold Puerto Rican
3/4 oz Barbados rum
2 dashes Angostura bitters
very tasty.

Great photos everyone

110 calories
:)

Lil drink wit a lil music......priceless

[ Edited by: hang10tiki 2014-11-19 20:35 ]

Aloha Mike. What, you're not up for three Jet Pilots in one sitting? I smell a lightweight :>)

Thanks for the kind words. I've been spoiled with The Mai-Kai version all these years, so I'm not a fan of many of the others, including Crane's Jet Pilot, or Donn Beach's Test Pilot in the Grog Log, Remixed and the app. They're all just too boozy for me. The Mai-Kai version seems to strike a better balance yet still packs a punch, as their drinks tend to do.

The one exception may be the traditional-style Jet Pilot created by Blair Reynolds and served at Hale Pele in Portland. The recipe was featured in Blair's column in Issue 2 of Tiki Magazine & More, in which he explored the drink's history. It's not on the same level, but it's quite good ...

I also like the 1963 Jet Pilot that Blair discusses in the article, which is almost a completely different drink, more citrusy and sweet. But it also strikes a nice balance. It's from an old recipe book that was unearthed and posted over on this thread:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=44519&forum=10&start=0

Okola Mauuna!

On 2014-11-18 21:04, mikehooker wrote:
Had a couple Jet Pilots tonight. I have thoroughly enjoyed the Hayward Mai Kai tribute recipe in the past and since I recently made some homemade cinnamon syrup I decided to try the Steve Crane "Luau" version from Sippin Safari/Total Tiki app. I used Kohala Bay for my dark Jamaican, Flor de Cana as my "gold Puerto Rican" and of course LH151. I felt it was a very unbalanced drink. The intensity and uniqueness of the Kohala and LH were fighting for dominance over the falernum, cinnamon and pernod. Even with 10 ingredients (one more than Crane), the Hayward tribute manages to mesh all these interesting flavors into something far more cohesive and delicious, to my palette anyway. Has anyone else felt this way about the Crane recipe or did I do something wrong? The only thing I skimped on was the grapefruit juice which was from a bottle and probably from concentrate, but still 100% juice with no additives.

Since I was dissatisfied with the first drink and wanted to continue playing with the cinnamon syrup, I tried Hayward's v.2 recipe which calls for it (the first tribute doesn't) as well as OJ, which seems unique to a Jet Pilot. I found this one to be a nice drink on par with his first version. Of course then I wanted to make a third drink to compare this to his other recipe but felt two Jet Pilots in one night was adequate so I'll have to save that taste test for another night. At any rate, both Hayward versions are supremely better than the Crane recipe in my mind. Oh yeah, I did use Coruba instead of Kohala in this last one but pretty sure I used KB in all my other Jet Pilots which seems to suit them well.

Sorry, no pretty pics this time, just jabber.

The Luau Jet Pilot in Sippin' Safari is one of my favorites --- the recipe strikes me as a midcentury Zombie update. Not easy to make but has always delivered for me. I plan to attempt the Blair Reynold's Jet Pilot, though the amount of blackstrap is just a bit off-putting, to me

On 2014-11-20 10:41, Kill Devil wrote:
The Luau Jet Pilot in Sippin' Safari is one of my favorites

...I plan to attempt the Blair Reynold's Jet Pilot, though the amount of blackstrap is just a bit off-putting, to me

I had a Test Pilot last night and have to agree that its nothing special - a little too tart and citrusy with the lime and moreso with the Cointreau. Now to Kill Devil's point, the Jet Pilot is fantastic. I use the same recipe that is in Sippin' Safari and its a REALLY solid drink! I don't know if another Jet Pilot recipe is even worth trying - a little spice and very dark. With curiosity I'll probably try Blair's version, which not surprisingly uses the Blackstrap rum as they seem to really favor it there at Hale Pele. I find it amusing for some reason.

All this Jet Pilot discussion shows how truly diverse everyone is in their own tastes. You can see that just by looking at the ratings and comments in the Grogalizer. Most of us agree on a few classics, like Vic's original Mai Tai or Donn's Zombie. But beyond that, our favorites are all over the place. The Jet Pilot/Test Pilot is a good example. Yet another thing that makes mixology so interesting.

Just read the Grogalizer comments on the Jet Pilot and several people mentioned the need to use fresh grapefruit which as I stated above was the only short cut I took. A couple people said to cut back on the cinnamon syrup and make up the difference with simple syrup. I did use Fee's falernum as people encouraged. Maybe I'll give it another go down the line with those tweaks but since the Hayward tribute is one of my favorite drinks to make at home I'll probably just stick to that one or give the Blair Reynolds one a shot. Not enough hours in the days.

I definetaly prefer the Steve Crane Jet Pilot.

Old friend in town, long time no drink:

First up: Mai Kai Black Magic Vs Mai Kai Hulkilau

Then: Rum Old Fashioned Vs Rhum Barbancourt Punch

Steve Crane Jet Pilot Vs Mai Kai Yeoman's Grog

Mai Kai Rum Barrel Vs Trader Vics Mai Tai

This is your kitchen on tiki:

Finish off:

Palm Ridge Reserve Vs Highland Park 30!

I see a lot of you drink on the job.....

Jet Pilot vs Blair's Jet Pilot w/Blackstrap.

On 2014-11-22 02:21, kkocka wrote:
Jet Pilot vs Blair's Jet Pilot w/Blackstrap

Who won? :)

On 2014-11-22 10:46, AdOrAdam wrote:
Who won? :)

You know, they were surprisingly close. I'd have to give the edge to the standard w/coruba. The blackstrap is maybe a hair too distinct and sorta threw it off, but both were very similar.

On 2014-11-21 16:15, AdOrAdam wrote:

Finish off:

Palm Ridge Reserve Vs Highland Park 30!

i havent had the Palm Ridge, but i cant imagine it would hold a candle to a 30 year scotch?

I aim to try the Blackstrap variation of the Jet Pilot - Cruzan Blackstrap isn't available in the UK (that I've seen).

I tried both Palm Ridge & Highland Park 30 - both are my friends & in limited quantity so I only tried small sips. Both are a little outside my desired complexity for whisky - quite oaky or spicy.

My friend is here for a second night:

First off: Beers & Chinese food

Followed by: Sumatra Kula Vs Navy Grog Vs Krakatoa

Speivak Zombie Vs Aku Aku Zombie Vs Mai Kai Mutiny

Diaquiri variation Vs Dead Reckoning Vs Three Dots & A Dash

With a few trying of neat spirits inbetween.

This is your kitchen on tiki:

Finish off: Vodka & Passionfruit Vs Rittenhouse 100 Vs Bushmills

Friends favourite drink of the weekend: Mai Kai Rum Barrel

At last- a Polynesian Pile Driver!

God Bless Frankie's Tiki Room!

Day two at Frankie's. Currently consuming a Nakalele Knockout.

Ted n Amy- great to meet you guys
Cheers

Me ...-
Spousal unit 3 Rum Scum

Then
Me Zombie
Wahine went with ...-

Thanx Tanya- u da bomb

Love that Jon met Ted & Amy! :) :)

Sadly ending our Weekend at Frankie's. Another Pile Driver and a Mai Tai for the road ( well, Air.)

Great to meet you, Hang10 & Mrs!

Great to meet u guys as well
Safe travels
We will have to make it down to da Bali Hai soon
for the monthly meet up
Cheers ya

Phantom tiki cocktail, (might be a kahuna Kevin recipe, not sure)

2 oz Jamaican rum, I used smith & Cross and El Dorado 12, 1/2 and 1/2
1.5 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz passion fruit syrup, I used Monin
1/4 oz Martinique cane syrup,
1/2 teaspoon Campari
1/4 teaspoon Absinthe
3 dashes cinnamon powder
This is a very nicely balanced and favored drink, I was not sure since there was Campari and Absinthe mixed in the drink and there were no citrus juices.

[ Edited by: hiltiki 2014-11-24 16:01 ]

Cool evening in California. Couple of Mexican Coffees made With Patron Coffee Liqueur warms the heart.
Cheers

If I can't make a good Mai Tai, I might as well make a blue Mai Tai!

blue mai-tai's were the first i ever made!

chicks dig the blue mai-tai...

Mai Kai rum barrel. I halved the grapefruit and used Flor de Cana for the white and split Smith & Cross and El Dorado 12 for the dark. Very nice balance. Powerful and delicious.

Nice pic Mike, I luv dem rum barrels
Cheers

Pina Colada. First time I've hollowed out a pineapple for a drink. Looks good, but it's too much work.

Trying out a few new drinks (in half measures):

Spindrift
Puka Punch
Dick Moano's Planters Punch

Full strength for the last two:

Saturn
Mai Kai Yeoman's Grog

Lil funky, added a little more sugar syrup and a float of dark rum, better

Cheers all