Month: March 2024

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Small Hand Cocktails Mai Tai Revisited

I took another run at the bottled Mai Tai from the craft cocktail arm of syrup company Small Hand Foods. The cocktail is made with Hamilton Rum, orange liqueur and of course Small Hand’s orgeat. The bottle is 25% ABV so this compares well to a freshly made cocktail and I assure you it is not lacking in flavor or potency. The 200ml bottle is around $11 and serves two-ish cocktails.

The rich flavors of the Small Hand Cocktails Mai Tai is similar to a Mai Tai you might get at a craft cocktail or tiki bar, with an assertive flavor profile that balances the tart citrus notes and the bold rum from Hamilton. As such this is probably best suited for seasoned craft cocktail drinkers. Serving over ice and getting some dilution in the glass is strongly recommended, but I didn’t feel the need to add lime juice or anything else like I sometimes feel the need for with other RTD Mai Tais.

Regular readers know that I’m not a fan of Small Hand’s orgeat, which to me has an unusually strong taste that doesn’t taste “almond-y.” Nonetheless, this does provide a very satisfactory Mai Tai that’s ready to drink anytime you want it.

These Small Hand Cocktails are available at Good Eggs and some Total Wine locations, plus discerning liquor stores, though I think this Mai Tai may be not as common and some of the other expressions in their line. I bought mine at Wine on Piedmont in Oakland.

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Tiki with Ray Shrunken Head at Golden Tiki

Congratulation to Ray Wyland aka Tiki with Ray for getting a shrunken head at The Golden Tiki in Las Vegas.

The positive attitude Ray brings to his blog and YouTube channel demonstrates he loves our subculture and the people who make it special. His features of home tiki bars on his blog is particularly noteworthy, highlighting the unsung fans of the genre who do the hard work to create their own stories and spaces without venture capital or an investment group.

Ray has also written extensively in Exotica Moderne magazine, discussing various topics but mostly writing about experiences at tiki bars across the country. I find Ray’s focus on the lesser known destinations as an example of his effort to write about the up and comers or under appreciated. Just in the last month, Ray wrote about Kahala Koa in Arlington Heights, IL in the latest Exotica Moderne issue and I saw that they’ve framed Ray’s article and put it on the wall in the bar. This is just the latest example of how Ray spreads the gospel of tiki.

I don’t know who is making the shrunken heads for Golden Tiki but Ray’s might be the most accurate of the heads they’ve done to date; it’s really the spitting image. We absolutely dig how Golden Tiki salutes so many people who they consider influential to the heritage of their venue and also how they salute the people currently making a contribution to the community. In this respect Ray for sure is a most deserving recipient.

So, here’s a straight-edge cheers to our friend Ray. Congratulations on your shrunken head!

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Make & Drink Lapu Lapu

There are a number of historical recipes for the Lapu Lapu / Chief Lapu Lapu cocktail, described in a recent video from Derek on the Make & Drink channel on YouTube. Besides going into the history of the cocktail and its notable presence as the featured cocktail at The Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, Derek came up with his own Lapu Lapu recipe that we are trying tonight.

Make & Drink Lapu Lapu
½ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz lime Juice
2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Passion Fruit syrup
¼ oz Rich Simple Syrup
1½ oz Light Rum
1 oz Pot Still Rum
1 oz Club Soda
¾ oz 151 Rum
Flash blend all ingredients except 151 rum for five seconds, then pour over crushed ice in a large snifter. Float ½ oz of 151 rum. Garnish with mint and a passionfruit shell with 151 rum, set on fire.

I took a few liberties here, notably on the garnish side since I had no mint and decided to use a lighted lantern pick. I used Liber Passionfruit Syrup, a light rum blend of Trader Vic’s white and Hamilton White Stache, Hamilton Pot Still Black Jamaica rum, and Hamilton 151 Demerara rum.

This is a really juicy cocktail and the excellent tangy Passionfruit Syrup from Liber really shines in this. I’m not getting much of the Pot Still rum, and if I was going to do this over I’d probably go 2 oz Pot Still and 1 oz Light rum. Or maybe just incorporate all the rum and not leave the 151 as a float, since a little of that famed Overproof Demerara rum can really add some great flavors to a cocktail.

Nonetheless, this is a really great version of this cocktail. Do you have a favorite Lapu Lapu recipe? Leave it in the comments.

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Fogcutter Friday

There’s been quite a bit of conversation happening lately in some of the blogs and YouTube channels that I watch around the classic Trader Vic’s cocktail The Fog Cutter. This was one of Vic’s breakout cocktail hits in the 1940s, based on a reputation for being extremely potent and also for being served in the signature mug. The cocktail contains, rum, gin, brandy, and sherry, along with citrus juices and Trader Vic’s signature sweetener, orgeat.

We were a Trader Vic’s Emeryville last week and thought I’ve give the modern day Samoan Fog Cutter a try. This version from the 1950s has slightly less booze than the original Fog Cutter but still features plenty of the citrus that folks often feel makes the cocktail unbalanced. And with all that juice it sure looks like it would be too tart, but I’ll tell you I thought the balance was just fine, especially once that sherry float began to be incorporated into the drink.

Samoan Fog Cutter
2 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
½ oz Orgeat
1½ oz Light Rum
½ oz Brandy
½ oz Gin
½ oz Cream Sherry, floated

Possible that the orange juice they’re using at Trader Vic’s leans sweet. Or perhaps they used a little more orgeat. I’ve made some Trader Vic’s cocktails at home and indeed did find them leaning tart, but that wasn’t the case for me at the restaurant last week.