This cocktail popped up in Beachbum Berry’s Total Tiki app and it was perfect to try since lime was the only juice I had on hand. This dates to the post World War 2 era and was served at the Tourist Bar in Port-au-Prince, Haiti – so naturally it uses Haitian spirits. Supposedly named after Haitian revolutionary General Alexandre Pétion who chose the title “President for Life” rather than “Emperor for Life.” What a true patriot.
Petion ¾ oz Lime juice ½ oz Sugar syrup ¾ oz Bénédictine ¾ oz Clairin from Haiti (alt: Cachaça) ¾ oz Barbancourt 8 Year Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
I loved this with Saint Benevolence Rum Clairin, but for the rest of my family I knew it would be a bit too much and subbed Cachaça as the Bum suggests. Quite a nice light style cocktail.
This week Derek is following up with another video and promoting May 22 to be Saturn Day, in recognition of the day in 1967 when the cocktail’s creator J. “Popo” Galsini won the California Bartenders Guild competition and essentially introduced the Saturn to the world.
The Saturn is one of the last great cocktails from tiki’s golden area, using familiar ingredients such as orgeat, falernum, and passionfruit syrup and notably using gin as the base spirit. As Derek noted, Galsini was not a purist and said that using vodka or a light rum was perfectly reasonable. The cocktail was originally served to judges in an ungarnished coupe glass, and later to attendees in a whiskey sour glass with a cocktail cherry dropped into the bottom and garnished with an lemon wedge. Those fancy planet-style garnishes are a 21st century invention and are sort of incorrect because the cocktail was named after the Saturn rocket, not the planet.
Historically accurate Saturn cocktail garnish
Saturn ½ oz Lemon Juice ½ oz Passion Fruit Syrup ¼ oz Falernum ¼ oz Orgeat 1¼ oz Dry Gin Shake with ice and strain. Garnish as you please.
The rich flavors from some of tiki’s stalwart syrups blend together in harmony, with subtle juniper notes from the gin. This is a gin cocktail that even gin-haters love, and I’ve served this to reluctant guests to great effect.
Cheers to Popo on his creation, and cheers to Derek for keeping the flame going for a new generation.
Been playing with some different Jamaican rums in a Kingston Negroni. The original version from New York bartender Joaquín Simó called or Smith & Cross, but I’ve been trying some other higher proof expressions including Hampden’s Overproof and a cask strength Worthy Park bottle, both to great effect.
Being an equal parts cocktail it is easy to make a larger version, which is what I did here. I didn’t have an orange peel to express but the result was still fab.
Kingston Negroni 1 part Campari 1 part Sweet Vermouth 1 part Jamaican rum Stir with ice. Strain over large cube.
I’m finding that for me that going a little light on the Campari and a little heavier on the rum is the sweet spot for my flavor profile.
We did a family trip to San Francisco and decided to check out the Buena Vista Cafe for Irish Coffee and a snack. The location opened over 100 years ago but is most famous for being the location where Irish Coffee was introduced to America in 1952. Popular syndicated writer Stan Delaplane had one at the airport in Shannon Ireland and upon his return worked with replicate it with Buena Vista owner Jack Koeppler. Delaplane’s column became a key channel for making the drink a viral hit. Delaplane would later publish a Mai Tai recipe sans pineapple juice in 1961.
The cafe was so busy they sat the four of us at a large table with another couple and one single, with everyone eager to try the drink for themselves and some also ordering breakfast and brunch specialties. A short distance away a bartender was making a dozen Irish Coffees in assembly line style, not unlike how they make Mai Tais at Trader Vic’s. The bartender is skilled and can whip out a batch in no time.
The Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista is made by pouring hot water into the glass to prepare it. Then the water is dumped and hot coffee is poured in. Then two sugar cubes are dropped in and quickly stirred, resulting in some coffee spilling out. Next, a jigger of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey is added, then topped with lightly whipped cream. I’d had a few Irish Coffees before but they pale to the Buena Vista’s, it was just that good. I really enjoyed the hot beverage and it had just the right balance of sweetness and enough whiskey to taste.
There are historical nods throughout the venue, including a plaque outside the building, so take the time to look around if you visit. There’s a gift shop next door and we enjoyed talking with the staff and seeing them work so efficiently.
The House without a Key restaurant’s reputation for having a great Mai Tai goes back to at least the 1990s when I first started researching Mai Tais in Hawai’i, at the time notably being a Mai Tai known to omit the pineapple juice commonly used.
During my 1999 visit I thought the drink included a touch too much lime, though others who provided reviews to our site during that period raved consistently. The look and overall makeup of this cocktail hasn’t changed at all since that time, still one of the better Mai Tais in Waikiki and made in the style of the early Hawaiian Mai Tais with equal parts of the sweeteners and the use of light and dark rums.
Note that Bacardi Select is the older name for today’s Bacardi Black rum.
Mai Tai from June 2022
2002
This recipe was included in an August 2002 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, where bartender Curtis Wong described the rums as being a high-quality blend and that they make at least 100 Mai Tais per night often making 40 at a time in an assembly line-like process. This is substantially similar to the current recipe, though the use of lemon juice is a curious choice.
2002 Halekulani Mai Tai 1¼ oz Lemon Juice ½ oz Orgeat ½ oz Rock Candy Syrup ½ oz Orange Curacao (Cointreau) ¾ oz Bacardi Select ¾ oz Bacardi Gold Rum Combine ingredients over crushed ice Float ½ oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum Garnish with lime wheel, sugar cane stick, and vanda orchid
Mid-2000s Era
This recipe was recently included in Beachbum Berry’s Total Tiki app, attributing the date to 2006. We found references to this recipe on the Halekulani’s website throughout the 2010s. The use of the now-discontinued Bacardi 151 means you can’t truly replicate this at home, and the swap was likely due to supply constraints of Lemon Hart during that period.
Mid-2000s Halekulani Mai Tai 1¼ oz Lime Juice ⅓ oz Orgeat ⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup ⅓ oz Orange Curacao ¾ oz Bacardi 151 Rum ¾ oz Bacardi Gold Rum Combine ingredients over crushed ice Float ¾ oz Bacardi Select Garnish with lime wedge, lime wheel, sugar-cane stick, mint leaf, and vanda orchid
Mai Tai from June 2019
2020s / Current Era
First included on the Halekulani website in 2020, this version still relies on a base Bacardi rums but once again features Lemon Hart 151 for a float that provides just enough additional rummy flavor. On occasion we’ve seen that Myers’s is used when supplies of Lemon Hart are unavailable, much to the detriment to the overall character of the cocktail, but if you can get this with Lemon Hart it is really a fantastic Mai Tai.
Halekulani Mai Tai – Current 1¼ oz Lime Juice ⅓ oz Orgeat ⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup ⅓ oz Orange Curacao (Cointreau) ¾ oz Bacardi Select/Black Rum ¾ oz Bacardi Gold Rum Combine ingredients over crushed ice Float ½ oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum Garnish with lime wheel, sugar cane stick, and vanda orchid
This cocktail from former Zombie Village bar manager Sam Miller was the featured cocktail on Make and Drink on YouTube this week. We recently saw Miller at the reunion event at Zombie Village where the Samson Swizzle was on the menu, and I really should have ordered it.
Samson Swizzle by Sam Miller ¾ oz Lime Juice ⅓ oz Cinnamon Syrup ⅓ oz Passionfruit Syrup 1 oz Real McCoy 3 / light Barbados rum 1 oz Rum Bar Gold / lightly aged Jamaican gold rum Angostura Bitters float “Handful” of Mint leaves Soda water Build over the mint, top with ice and then swizzle. Add soda and more ice to fill, then float Angostura Bitters.
I didn’t have either of the specified rums at home. I subbed with Probitas which is a blend of mostly lightly aged Barbados rum and a bit of Jamaica rum, and used Planteray Xaymaca as a sub for the Rum Bar Gold.
This is a delicious cocktail and the soda is an important component as it helps to incorporate the mint flavors throughout the cocktail. The amount of Ango would vary depending on your personal preference.
The recipe includes Passionfruit syrup, which I think pairs really great with the Circus Peanut (I used it in my Hurricane riff, the Hurriclown). But I dropped the amount down to a quarter ounce to focus a bit more on the traditional Mai Tai syrup, Orgeat.
Big Top Mai Tai by Jason Alexander 1½ oz Lemon Juice ¼ oz Passionfruit Syrup ½ oz Orgeat 1 oz BG Reynolds Circus Peanut Syrup 2½ oz Planteray Xaymaca Rum Shake with crushed ice
Xaymaca’s unique funky taste really works well here, as does the lemon juice in place of traditional lime. This is a big, bold cocktail that is delicious.
