shelf life of premixed tiki drinks

How long will a batch of Mai Tais or Zombies last if made up ahead of time? How about "fresh" squeezed lime/lemon juice? thanks for any advice...cheers! -mike

Some good info here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=25011&forum=10

My semi-educated summary, if you don't want to read the entire thing:

My guess would be to mix everything except the lime ahead of time and squeeze the lime into a bottle as late as possible. Refrigerate the lime juice, but not the other mix because you'll want that at room temperature to get the right ice meltage.

The "plastic wrap over the lime juice so it doesn't oxidize" is also a key component, allowing one to squeeze several hours ahead of time. Or fill a bottle right to the tippity-top so that some lime juice spills out when you cork it.

[ Edited by: Scottes 2007-11-05 17:35 ]

On 2007-11-05 13:11, nolarummy wrote:
How long will a batch of Mai Tais or Zombies last if made up ahead of time? How about "fresh" squeezed lime/lemon juice? thanks for any advice...cheers! -mike

Do you want to pre-mix for cocktails? Or try to convert the recipe to a punch? Because both work, depending on your party and serving style.

If you want to pre-mix a batch for easy bartending, make it after the first guest arrives and then pour as needed. That keeps everything fresh because the batch is only as old as the party. The link Scottes posted has some other tips and tricks that will help.

If you would like some help converting a recipe to a punch, (I mean one that isn't already a punch) send me a PM and I can offer some specific ideas to your desired recipe.

Thanks for the link and the tips! I just built a tiki bar for the distillery and we are starting to have some tiki parties and it is just easier to have a few gallon jugs of premixed drinkies. mmmmmmmmm leftover zombies! cheers, -m