Tiki Central / Tiki Drinks and Food / Updates to The Mai-Kai Cocktail Guide on The Atomic Grog
Post #739350 by Hurricane Hayward on Sun, Mar 15, 2015 1:07 AM
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Hurricane Hayward
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Sun, Mar 15, 2015 1:07 AM
Mike, looks like I'm due to revisit the Moonkist Coconut. I'll admit, it's quite some time since I've had one. Been busy lately dissecting all the drinks featuring Hamilton's rums from Guyana. I've got a lot of updates coming on those, including several updated recipes that folks might enjoy. I'm definitely impressed with your discipline and dedication to rating all the drinks you make. I've done exactly the same thing for years. When I'm looking for something good, I just look in the files with the high ratings. Re falernum, I think the consensus is that Fee Brothers is the best option to replicate what The Mai-Kai uses. Perhaps they use Fee, but it's definitely a rich and sweet falernum that's a bit different than Velvet. Beachbum Berry wrote in one of his books that the Fee recipe is very close to what Donn Beach would have used (and probably Mariano too), which seems good enough for me. I lean toward Flor de Cana as a base Spanish-style white and gold rum (I actually stock all the golds: 4-, 5- and 7-year-old). It's step above Cruzan, Bacardi, Don Q and many others IMHO. Very solid mixer. The 2-year-old Cruzan is fine, but I prefer the old 5-year-old version and still have a few bottles left. Haven't tried the "new" 5-year-old "dark" from Cruzan but noticed it's a little pricey. For the same price, I'd stick with Flor de Cana. Other solid gold Spanish style mixing rums include Ron del Barrilito, Bacardi 8 and Bacardi Select. But those might actually have a bit too much flavor to use as a simple base rum in the Moonkist and some other drinks from The Mai-Kai. The well gold rum is Ron Carlos, a very cheap brand that's bottled in Florida from Cruzan stock. I think what gives the Moonkist its nice gold rum flavor is the Barbados rum, most likely Mount Gay. (There are some other great Barbados rums out there to try, like Plantation, Cockspur, Doorly’s and The Real McCoy.) It's common for The Mai-Kai to use cheap white and gold base rums since you can barely taste them, and I'm sure that's cost effective. But then they'll use a great gold or dark rum, such as a Demerara, dark Jamaican or aged gold rum to add a signature flavor. When mixing these at home, however, I wouldn't be afraid to experiment with better rums, as long as they're the same style.
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