Had sort of an impromptu visit to Trader Vic’s Emeryville on Thursday night to sample some of the cocktails from their special vintage food and cocktail menu that’s been on special this summer. We’ll cover the Shingle Stain in a separate post, but we enjoyed trying two other vintage items: the Potwasher and the Bamboo Punch.
The Potwasher was the signature cocktail for the short-lived 1979 spin-off restaurant Mama Gruber’s Fishhouse, and after closing was on the Señor Pico menu. The description says this contains Dark Rum and Sloe Gin, Pineapple, Spiked with Grog Mix. I thought the mouthfeel and balance of this cocktail was pretty good, and you’re getting a lot of rich flavor from the Vic’s Grog Mix. I wasn’t able to find the recipe but we do have a photo of the original signature mug.
The Bamboo Punch dates back to at least the 1960s and also appeared in the Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide Revised. This didn’t really have a ton of depth to me, and needed a little more sugar to balance the tart and bitter elements.
Bamboo Punch (1972)
Juice of one Lime *
2 dash Peychaud’s Bitters
½ oz Passion Fruit Nectar
1 dash Trader Vic’s Rock Candy Syrup *
1 oz Trader Vic’s Puerto Rican Rum
1¼ oz Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum
* Vic said that the juice of one lime is equivalent to one ounce. Vic later said that “dash” of this style of ingredient equalled a quarter ounce.
At the time of publication, the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Rum was a blend of 70% Jamaica rum, 20% Martinique, and 10% Virgin Island rum. It likely was a bold and pungent rum blend, designed for the Mai Tai. In Emeryville they’re using Trader Vic’s Royal Amber Rum. I’d recommend using an aged Jamaica rum for this cocktail to better balance against the light Puerto Rican rum.
The modern cocktails recently added to the cocktail menu at Vic’s address contemporary sensibilities for more assertive flavors, such as the smoked pineapple in Mrs. Mai Tai’s Lava Haze, and serve as a counterpart to these vintage drinks when customers liked things a little lighter.
