Month: May 2023

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Trader Vic’s Hangover Cure: Banana Cow

I challenged Trader Vic’s Emeryville bartender Troy to make a Banana Cow, one of the Trader’s earliest cocktail hits. And boy did Troy make it great, perfectly blended and totally icy smooth to the last drop.

There are two printed recipes for the Banana Cow, which evolved to be more of a true cocktail by the 1970s.

Banana Cow (1946)
1 crushed, ripe Banana
2 level teaspoons bar Sugar
3 oz fresh whole Milk
1½ oz Puerto Rican Rum (Ron Merito, Boco Chica, or Brugal)
Plenty of Cracked Ice
“Put the mess into an electric mixer and mix the hell out of it. Pour into a large glass and have at it. No foolin’ this is a pip.”
Trader Vic’s Book of Food & Drink (1946)

Banana Cow (1972)
1 whole Banana
1 tsp bar Sugar
1 dash Vanilla (Extract)
3 oz fresh Milk
1 oz Trader Vic’s light Puerto Rican rum
1 dash Angostura Bitters
½ scoop shaved ice
Blend in electric mixer. Serve in Planter’s Punch glass.
“The world’s finest, greatest, oh-so-good peachy hangover special. That’ll do it when nothing else will”
Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide Revised (1972)

Later, Vic wrote in Trader Vic’s Rum Cookery & Drinkery (1974) about the cocktail, saying “The Banana Cow is the greatest hangover drink as far as I’m concerned. People are in a rut serving Bloody Marys, and they really kill you rather than cool you. But milk is good for you, and bananas are good for your stomach. Many is a morning I could count a lot of people waiting for me to open my doors for a Rum or Banana Cow to cool it, heal it, and cure it completely.”

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Drunken Monkey at Trader Vic’s Emeryville

This cocktail appeared on the menu at Trader Vic’s Emeryville a couple years ago and I decided to revisit with lunch. The drink features unaged Cachaça and Tequila, along with Banana liqueur, grapefruit and lime juice, plus Trader Vic’s favorite ingredient – Orgeat. The Whipped Cream topping with Lime Zest makes this an attractive cocktail.

The blend of Cachaça and Tequila works really well here, providing different spirit notes than what you’d get with Rum or Bourbon. Cachaça is distilled from cane juice and the light herbal qualities pair well with Tequila’s agave-based flavor. The banana is there just as a hint, and when we upped the ratio at home it still wasn’t forward in the cocktail.

At Trader Vic’s the cocktail is served in this tall glass with nugget ice, which meant it was difficult to incorporate the topping into the drink due to the chunky ice. My preference would be for this to be in an old fashioned glass with a wider brim or with shaved ice that would be easier to work with.

Trader Vic’s hasn’t published the recipe but observing the prep and trying at home this seems pretty close. Give it a try!

Drunken Monkey by Trader Vic’s
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Grapefruit Juice (pink)
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1 oz Blanco Tequila
1 oz Silver Cachaça
Shake with crushed ice and top with whipped cream and banana chips.

At home I used El Jimador Tequila and Novo Fogo Cachaça, along with Latitude 29 Orgeat, and I felt this tasted even better than the one at Trader Vic’s. I’m a newbie to both spirits, so I couldn’t tell which brands were used at Vic’s.

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Trader Vic’s Lunch

My company gave me the day off for a “wellness day” and so I popped over to Trader Vic’s Emeryville for a low-key lunch.

There are really few things that are as good as Crab Rangoon from Trader Vic’s when served fresh and hot. So delightful with the sauces too.

I also really enjoyed the Aloha Bowl with Kalua Pork. Some really great flavors here, including the salad portion with Trader Vic’s dressing.

Was sad to see that one of the statues outside the front door was split in half and the other one was completely missing. They’d been victims of vandalism (see the older photo) in the past and looks like they finally met their end.

2021
2023
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Cell 2187 (Ankle Breaker)

Happy May the Fourth: Star Wars Day.

The vessel is the Death Star. The drink is a modified version of the Ankle Breaker. Put them together and it is Cell 2187, the cell that Princess Leia was jailed in.

The original recipe calls for a 151 Puerto Rican rum. I do have some Don Q 151 but it is buried in the back of my liquor cabinet and I thought maybe switching it up would be an improvement. Indeed, replacing that potent rum with two others proved to be even better than the original. Much more flavorful with rums that can stand up to all that powerful Cherry Heering liqueur.

Cell 2187 (Ankle Breaker)
1½ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Simple Syrup
1½ oz Cherry Heering
1 oz Plantation OFTD Rum
½ oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Jamaica Rum
Shake with ice. Add “dark side of the Force” light-up cube.

The Geeki Tiki Death Star is a pretty nice mug.

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Caipirinha

I finally got around to purchasing a bottle of Cachaça, the cane spirit from Brazil. I’ve had good experiences with Novo Fogo Silver Cachaça and the price was reasonable so that’s what I went with. Not grassy at all, the savory flavors of this cane spirit are quite pleasant.

I decided to make a Caipirinha, the national drink of Brazil. This cocktail is similar to a Daiquiri or Ti Punch in that it contains a cane spirit, lime, and sugar.

Caipirinha
2 sugar cubes
1 Small Lime, cut into quarters
2 oz Cachaça
Place lime wedges and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle gently. Add Cachaça and crushed ice, then stir until chilled and the sugar is dissolved.

This is quite nice and more to my taste than the formula for a Ti Punch that has a smaller ratio of lime/sugar (if you prefer Martinique Rhum, your opinion may differ). I can see why the Caipirinha is popular.

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Old Brigand Black Label Superior Barbados Rum

Produced at the Foursquare distillery, Old Brigand is a “Spirits Direct” exclusive to Total Wine & More stores in the U.S. and retails for under $20. The blended aged rum includes pot and column still distillate and is released at 43% ABV.

The pirate on the label would seem to indicate to rum snobs that this isn’t the rum they’re looking for, but on the latest Rumcast podcast, this expression was the highest rated in a blind test of a number of Foursquare produced rums. So, I had try to this rum and for the price it isn’t a big risk. Indeed the flavorful rum reminds me of much more expensive Barbados rums, with good vanilla and coconut notes from the aging. Quite nice to sip.

This was less awesome in a Mai Tai, where the taste of the rum was not as forward as I’m used to. Then again, I’m usually using heavier Jamaica rums with a higher ABV so the more delicate Barbados rum is certainly not as bold.