Congrats to San Diego’s Bali Hai Restaurant, a longtime institution located on scenic Shelter Island. The venue’s infamous Mai Tai is known to be extraordinarily potent, advertised as not being made with any juice. It’s basically rum in a glass with little splashes of traditional Mai Tai ingredients.
The 3 millionth Mai Tai was recently sold at Bali Hai, which has a ticker inside the restaurant showing how many they’ve sold. Quite a milestone for such a noteworthy entrant in the lore of the Mai Tai.
People often ask how this is made, so we present the recipe that tastes like the real thing.
Bali Hai Mai Tai ½ oz Sweet and Sour Mix (or ¼ oz Lemon Juice and ¼ oz Simple Syrup) ¼ oz Orgeat ¼ oz Triple Sec 2½ oz Cruzan Light Rum 2½ oz Coruba Dark Jamaican Rum Shake with ice
Today we learned the sad news that legendary San Francisco bartender Steven Liles had passed away. Liles was a fixture at Smuggler’s Cove for more than a decade, recently departing and working elsewhere in the City.
I was always in awe of Liles’ seemingly effortless bartending skills, and he was always had a friendly wink when we’d visit the Cove. He was very accommodating when I last saw him there, where he skillfully blended two rums for an awesome Mai Tai and even better conversation. Sincere condolences to friends and loved ones who knew Steven better than I did. Smuggler’s Cove announced the passing.
As a tribute, I made one of Liles’ recipes, the RongoRongo. Quite tropical and easy to drink.
RongoRongo by Steven Liles ¾ oz Lime Juice 1 oz Pineapple Juice ¾ oz Cinnamon Syrup ¾ oz Planteray OFTD Rum 1 oz Planteray Siggins’ Fancy Pineapple Rum 1 oz Aged Rum (Real McCoy 5) 1 dash Angostura Bitters
Flash blend with 1 cup of ice for 5 seconds. Serve in Pilsner glass and garnish with orchid, pineapple leaf, and swizzle stick.
The Mai Tai was made with Yes Cocktail Co. Orgeat and I ended up using a full ounce just to kill the bottle. I bought this a few months back and found it produced some very good Mai Tais, a little sweeter and less toasted than the more widely available Liber Orgeat and a bit milkier than brands like Latitude 29 Orgeat. This is available at craft liquor stores and is a really good option.
I didn’t use any demerara/rock candy syrup in the Mai Tai seeing how there was already plenty of sugar from the orgeat. When you go heavy on the orgeat it really produces a floral Mai Tai. Rums were Myers’s Dark and a bit of Rhum JM Blanc. Delicious.
The glass is from Trader Vic’s, celebrating the company’s founding back in 1934. We will also be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Mai Tai this year. Look for a huge promotional push as the official Mai Tai Day in late August approaches with events at the Trader Vic’s locations. Bay Area folks should be prepared for an expanded set of Mai Tai Day festivities at the Vic’s Emeryville location this year. Stay tuned.
I got this Tiki Tolteca mug at the Alameda Point Antiques Fair (thank you @smuggler_steve), so wanted to make a drink in it. I had a great time visiting Tiki Tolteca in New Orleans in 2018, now sadly shuttered.
The drink was a Samoan Fog Cutter, though I misread the ingredients and ended up switching the ratio of Lemon and Orange Juice. I also used a Cara Cara Orange, so this ended up quite a bit sweeter than it would have been otherwise and I think was a more balanced ratio. I also used a lot more Sherry than what the original recipe calls for and to me is better for it.
I thought this tasted great, and I did find that even the small amounts of Brandy and Gin were providing a more complex blend of noticeable flavors than if this just used light rum.
Samoan Fog Cutter Modified 2 oz Cara Cara Orange Juice 1 oz Lemon Juice ½ oz Orgeat (heavy pour) ½ oz Gin (Beefeater) ½ oz Brandy (Korbel) 1½ oz Light Rum (Trader Vic’s) 1 oz Sherry (Harvey’s Bristol Cream) Shake ingredients with ice, saving the Sherry for a float.
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.
Sent off this bottle of Hamilton 86 rum from Guyana in style with a modified Ancient Mariner cocktail. The Ancient Mariner is a Navy Grog riff from Jeff “Beachbum” Berry that appeared in the original Grog Log back in 1998. Modified by me due to the lack of grapefruit juice and a heavier pour of the Hamilton Demerara rum just so I could finish the bottle.
Ancient Mariner (modified) ½ oz Cara Cara Orange Juice 1 oz Lime Juice ¼ oz Simple Syrup ¼ oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Liqueur 1¾ oz Hamilton 86 rum from the Demerara River ¼ oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Shake with ice, garnish with mint
The orange came through in this and so it didn’t quite have that classic Grog taste, but otherwise this was plenty good.
Ancient Mariner by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry ½ oz White Grapefruit Juice ¾ oz Lime Juice ½ oz Simple Syru ¼ oz Pimento Dram (Allspice Liqueur) 1 oz Demerara Rum 1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum Shake with ice, garnish with mint and lime wedge
Mrs. Mai Tai often orders a Shirley Temple in lieu of a cocktail but sometimes you want this kind of drink with alcohol included. This alcoholic “Dirty” Shirley Temple riff is named after Garbage and Angelfish singer Shirley Manson, a native of Scotland. So, naturally the featured spirit in this cocktail is Scotch Whisky. Given the difficulty of balancing the high cherry content in a boozy highball you might understand why I worked on this on and off for over a year until I finally got it where I wanted it.
Noteworthy is the use of Ginger Ale rather than 7-Up or Sprite; true Shirley Temple aficionados will agree this is the correct soda mixer. The use of Maraschino Cherry Juice is potentially controversial but is the key ingredient to provide the flavor notes that’ll remind you of your favorite childhood version of this drink. I tried Luxardo cherry juice while prototyping but it was too thick and didn’t lighten the already heavy flavors from Cherry Heering liqueur.
(Dirty) Shirley Manson ½ oz Maraschino Cherry Juice ½ oz Cherry Heering Liqueur ½ oz Cointreau 1½ oz Scotch Whisky 1 dash Cherry Bitters (optional) 3 oz Ginger Ale Fill glass with crushed ice or small cubes. Build in Collins glass and stir lightly. Garnish with three cherries on a pick.
I went around with some different styles of Scotch and am not officially designating a specific brand or type. If you like it peaty, then choose a beloved Islay brand. Although the peaty flavor isn’t my favorite I do feel like a little bit of it in the cocktail will provide authenticity and a good counterbalance to the sweet cherry notes.
When I make this at home I use 1 oz The Glenlivet 12 year and ½ oz of Johnnie Walker Black Label, providing just the right amount of that smoky Scotch flavor along with the Speyside Scotch’s predominantly floral notes.
