Category: Recipe

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Pilo Pilo Recipe

Each Trader Vic’s location has a signature cocktail that initially is available only at that location, though sometimes these cocktails come to other Trader Vic’s locations. This is a really great perk for those who seek out and visit the various Vic’s locations, and these cocktails are chosen with great care because the team a Trader Vic’s know they have to good.

Signature cocktail examples:

  • E’Ville Ewa, Emeryville
  • Munich Sour, Munich
  • Peachtree Punch, Atlanta

The signature cocktail at the Trader Vic’s location at the San Jose International Airport is the Pilo Pilo. This cocktail uses two juices, two sweeteners, and three rums and comes in a mug that’s exclusive to the San Jose location as well (the mug is also available on the Trader Vic’s website).

The cocktail was developed by Daniel Velize and the recipe was shared a couple years ago at Tiki Oasis by Eve Bergeron. Notably, it’s a cocktail that uses the top-secret Navy Grog Mix syrup that  is available for purchase on the Trader Vic’s online store.

Pilo Pilo by Daniel Velize
1 oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Passion Fruit Syrup
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Navy Grog Mix
½ oz Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Dark Rum
¾ oz Trader Vic’s 151-Proof Rum
Shake with ice, garnish with three cherries and a spent lime shell.

I really liked this cocktail when I tried it a couple weeks ago before my flight to Seattle, and the blend of three rums really worked for me. I found it to be well balanced, despite all that citrus too.

The World’s Best Airport Bar
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Recipe: Trader Vic’s Stinker

This cocktail was a highlight of Sunday’s happy hour special event at Trader Vic’s Emeryville  organized by some local tiki folks. We gathered in the Lanyu room and could order at that room’s bar for the cocktails on the special menu, plus food items from the regular lounge menu. We did see a few people go to the main bar to order other drinks, but it seemed like most people were happy with the varied options that included the Original Mai Tai, a Navy Grog, a Clarified Essence of San Juan, the classic Trader Vic’s Stinker.

The flame was quite impressive and I enjoyed this cocktail in any case, thanks to the Trader Vic’s Grog mix and a blend of spirits.

Trader Vic’s Stinker
1 oz Lime Juice
2 oz Pineapple juice
½ oz Trader Vic’s Grog Mix
½ oz Sloe Gin
2 oz Trader Vic’s Dark Rum
Flash Blend or shake and pour into a Menehune bowl or goblet.
Garnish with spent lime shell filled with 151 rum and ignite

The recipe for the Stinker was shown on Trader Vic’s now defunct Twitter account in 2020, adding “Squeeze half of a lime, save spent shell” but there’s no way they were using ~1½ oz of lime juice in this and eyeballing the recipe it seems like too much in any case.

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Recipe: The Space Needle

This vintage recipe recently popped up on the Make and Drink YouTube channel, where Derek described the vague history of this drink. It’s obviously a Mai Tai variant, notably substituting lemon juice for lime, but strangely Trader Vic did not take credit for the recipe in his books where the recipe was listed. Perhaps a crew member at the Seattle Trader Vic’s location did the riffing on the Trader’s behalf.

Space Needle by Trader Vic (?)
1½ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Orgeat
1 oz Orange Curacao
1½ oz Light Rum
1½ oz Dark Jamaican Rum
Flash blend with 1 cup of shaved ice, add to glass with additional shaved/crushed ice. Mint garnish optional.

I used a 50/50 blend of Clement Creole Shrubb and Grand Marnier for the orange curaçao.

This drink is not dissimilar to the original Hawaiian Mai Tai that Trader Vic introduced to Hawaii in 1953, including a blend of a light rum and a dark Jamaican rum. I used Coruba, as did Derek, though back in the 1960s the typical dark Jamaican rums were a bit higher in ABV. Nonetheless, the drink is plenty boozy with 3 oz of rum plus a full ounce of orange curaçao.

Indeed that ratio of orange curaçao is what makes this kind of a different drink than simply a Mai Tai with lemon juice. The overall character is sweeter and a bit more floral, though I felt it was richer than Menehune Juice, a Mai Tai variant made just with light Puerto Rican rum. In the case of the Menehune Juice it’s quite floral as the rum doesn’t add a lot of flavor, whereas with the Space Needle there are richer ingredients to taste and a heavier overall mouthfeel.

Derek said he thought this would be better with a little less orange curaçao, resulting in a drink that’s closer to a Mai Tai spec and better balanced. I disagree and totally loved the richness from the sweet orange liqueur.

The Space Needle is different from a Mai Tai and it’s great. I regret not making this sooner.

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Disgruntled Mai Tai

This delicious Mai Tai riff comes from Sam Ross of Attaboy in New York City. Ross is a Bartender of the Year winner from Tales of the Cocktail and has been a staple of the NYC cocktail scene for two decades.

The drink is elaborately garnished with a little bottle of Underberg, a bitter German herbal liqueur. It also splits the rum base with Aperol, leaning into pleasant orange flavors.

Disgruntled Mai Tai by Sam Ross
1 oz Lime Juice
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Curacao
1 oz overproof Jamaican rum, preferably Smith & Cross
1 oz Aperol
Whip shake with a small amount of crushed ice, then strain over crushed ice in double rocks glass. Then remove cap and paper cover from Underberg bottle and place nose-down into the cocktail. Garnish with mint sprig, lime wedge, freshly grated nutmeg, and cocktail umbrella.

I thought this was fantastic, though the Underberg didn’t really incorporate into the cocktail. In fact, I drank the whole thing and then lifted out the Underberg bottle which was still nearly full. So, I poured the contents out over the ice, added about ¾ oz of orgeat and then topped with soda. The orgeat balanced the bitter flavors and I found it to be quite pleasant.

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Lost Recipe: Camparinara

This historical punch recipe was recently discovered and amplified by Derek on his Make and Drink channel on YouTube. It is Campari-forward, with other ingredients familiar to tropical and exotic cocktail fans.

In Derek’s video he published two single cocktail versions of the Camparinara and I chose the one that’s more rum forward. It originally calls for ginger and clove and so I used Falernum in place of the Ginger Syrup that Derek used. And rather than using Allspice Dram I used “Don’s Spices no. 2” which is equal parts Allspice dram and Vanilla Syrup.

It’s a really interesting and very flavorful cocktail that I’d like to see commercial tiki bars adopt. Cheers to Derek for finding this lost treasure.

Camparinara – Rummy Version on Ice
1 oz Lemon juice
2 tsp Falernum
2 tsp Cinnamon syrup
2 tsp Don’s Spices no. 2
1 oz Campari
2 oz Rum (Mount Gay XO)
Shake with ice and strain over a large ice cube. Garnish with ground nutmeg.

Watch the video on YouTube

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Rum Negroni Halloween Special

Had a good Rum Negroni with skull ice cubes in a Tiki Goth Club glass. Not too bad to celebrate Halloween but also laying low because you have a busy weekend ahead.

I used the new Planteray Mister Fogg Mavy Rum Sail n°2. I hypothesized that this rum wouldn’t be great in cocktails and even with cutting the Campari way back the rum doesn’t really push through. Stick to Jamaican rum next time. Sail n°2 is better as a nice sipping rum.

Rum Negroni
1½ oz Sweet Vermouth
1 oz Campari
1½ oz Planteray Mister Fogg Mavy Rum Sail n°2
Stir with ice and strain over large cubes

Happy Halloween

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Tequila + Rum Recipe: So Long Summer

I ran across this recipe from Deb Parks, wife of famed bartender Doc Parks, celebrating the end of summer. The recipe uses tequila and cane juice rum, a combo I hadn’t tried, so I thought I’d give this a shot and see if any of Doc’s mixology skills have rubbed off on his better half.

So Long Summer by Deb Parks
¾ oz Fresh Lime juice
¾ oz Fresh Grapefruit juice
½ oz Cinnamon Syrup
½ oz Passionfruit Vanilla Syrup
l oz Fortaleza Tequila Blanco
l oz Kō Hana Kea Rum
Shake with ice and dirty dump. I subbed El Jimador Blanco for the tequila.

This is a pretty good cocktail, especially if you like things that lean just a little dryer than you sometimes find in tropical cocktails. The combination of tequila and the lightly grassy Hawaiian cane rum really works great together and aren’t quite as assertive as something like Mezcal or Rhum Agricole might be. The grapefruit is fab in here, too – and as we know from Don the Beachcomber grapefruit and cinnamon pair very well. Save this refresher of a recipe for when you want to relive the summer.

Autumn is now here, but we’ll always have this cocktail to remember the summer of 2025. Cheers.