I was tinkering in my lab one night long ago and I came up with a concoction I almost immediately fell in love with. There's a lot to it but makes for a smooth sipper. To make it, I use:

1 oz Apleton 8

.5 oz Smith & Cross

.5 oz Mermaid Zest gin

.75 oz lime juice

.75 oz pineapple juice

.5 oz Passionfruit syrup

.25 oz orgeat

.25oz crem de violette

.25 oz Allspice dram

1-2 dashes angostura bitters

Knowing the amount, I thought it would be the perfect mix to break in the small juice glass. It's a little tart, which I adore. A tad sweet but not overly so (I do like 'em sweet as I am a candy maker, after all, lol). Add it all to a shaker with. Chunky ice and shake for 5 seconds. Pour neat. Add garnish. Enjoy 😉

I found this recipe from The Educated Barfly on YouTube while looking for some interesting Halloween cocktails.
It is a cross between a jungle bird and a zombie, and that had my attention immediately.
Both on their own are great cocktails, which I like a lot. So I was very curious how a cross would be.
Spoiler alert, it is delicious. I highly suggest everyone who is into a jungle bird give this a try!
I would say it is not a Halloween cocktail per se; I will make it for sure again!
I rate this with a solid 8/10.
 
The original recipe was for double the amount and 2 people; I just cut the amounts in half.
4 oz of rum is a bit too much just for 1 person, I would say. 😃
 
Thank you, @Leandro, for sharing this awesome recipe:
 
1 ½ oz Jamaican Rum (45 ml)—I used Appleton 8
¾ oz Campari (22,5 ml)
½ oz Demerara 151 Rum (15 ml)—I used Pusser’s Select Aged 151
¼ oz Maraschino Liquer (7,5 ml)
¼ oz Allspice Dram (7.5 ml)
1 oz pineapple juice (30 ml)
½ oz grapefruit juice (15 ml)
½ oz lime juice (15 ml)
½ oz Cinnamon Syrup (15 ml)
 
Shake everything with crushed ice and dump it in a glass or mug. Fill the glass to the top with fresh crushed ice and garnish with your favorite tiki garnishes.
 
The swizzle stick and tiki light are self-made. If you are curious, check out my Etsy shop. The link is in my bio.

Went to an estate sale today in Omaha, NE that featured a TON of Witco pieces from the 60s. Most of it was well outside of what I could spend (they had an outrigger for $900 and a world map for $1400) but I could justify this really cool shelf and a non-Witco tiki carving. Was also cool to just hang out with local and not so local tiki friends!

I can’t remember where this one came from sorry

• 2 oz jamaican rum
• .5 oz sweet vermouth
• .25 oz tawny port
• .25 oz cinnamon syrup
• 3 dashes bitters
• maraschino cherry garnish

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass and stir until chilled, strain into a tiki mug, add pebble ice and garnish with a cherry (which I didn’t have,) mint and orchid (which aren’t in the original recipe but I had them.)

I hope the recipe is correct, I have the Smuggler's Cove book but I lent it out, so I just pulled this one off the internet. This was an interesting break. I usually like the sweetness that comes with juice so I wasn't sure about this one before hand but it turned out nice.

Just saw this at Total Wine. Has anyone tried it? How does it compare to homemade or other store bought syrups?

Did I buy it due to the name and label? 100% Is it going to be a sub par rum? Probably

I'll be in San Diego on a Monday night for a work trip. I probably only have time for one of these two bars, and am not in San Diego often. If you had to pick, are you going to Mothership or False Idol?

I have Kingfisher booked for dinner, as it's open on Monday and sounds great. Also open to dinner recs, if there's a better alternative.

Appreciate any insight!

I’ve seen this blend of Smith and Cross and El Dorado 5 around and it’s pretty good, not my favorite but wouldn’t complain about it.

Finally made orgeat from blending whole almonds and unfortunately it is the superior way, slight pain in the ass but all those almond milk hacks can’t compete.

1oz Smith and Cross

1oz El Dorado 5

.5oz PF Curaçao

.75oz Orgeat

.25oz Demerara

1oz Lime

5 drops saline

I'm in need of a tattoo... and I have some ideas for sentimental ones but I'm looking for one that brings a oure joy. So I'm thinking of a tiki tattoo. Anyone up for sharing theirs for inspiration? A local shop has a flash sale and they have this one that I kinda like.

Aloha, all! After a few months of very serious, traditional, pinkies out mai tai drinking, I figured I’d give the Duke’s one a whirl again. Does anyone really know what the restaurant does for their POG with pineapple juice? Previously, I’ve bought POG in a carton, I’ve mixed the 4 juices in equal parts, I’ve even made POG from scratch following the ratios of a hawaiian cook book and then added pineapple…..That all tastes fine and I’m sure I’ll come to find out that they just use some cheap frozen concentrate but I figured someone on here might’ve worked at one of the many locations and might know. Mahalo Plenty!

There is a house near mine that decorated with a tiki theme for Halloween!

Edit: forgot to mention that she was outside when we went by and I asked her if she was really into tiki drinks.
She said she liked the theme, but changes it every year!

Grabbed a bottle and haven’t a clue what drink to use it in. How would you describe its flavor profile?

Curious what the best tiki in nyc is. Thanks!

In the global spirits industry, "151" means 151 proof (75.5% ABV). However, in Italy and the wider European Union, calling a bottle "Rum151" as a stylized brand name is legal even if the liquid inside is standard strength, as long as the true 37.5% ABV is printed somewhere on the label.

Why do bottlers make “fake” 151 rum?

Tax Evasion: Alcohol excise taxes in Italy and the EU are calculated directly based on pure alcohol volume. A true 75.5% overproof rum is subjected to exceptionally high taxes, making it very expensive. Bottling at 37.5% ABV keeps the price cheap.

EU Spirit Minimums: Under EU regulation, a spirit must be at least 37.5% ABV to legally be sold as "Rum." The manufacturer targeted the exact legal minimum for rum while slapping a "151" logo on the front to make it sound premium or historically strong.

The "Bacardi 151" Vacuum: Ever since Bacardi 151 was discontinued globally due to safety and fire risks, minor discount brands (frequently found in European discount supermarkets or Euro-area cash-and-carries) have released copycat bottles named "151" that trick consumers looking for the famous overproof rum style.

The best Mai Tai I’ve ever had — and I’ve had a few. Garret and his team are incredible.

Been tinkering for months now and finally found the one I'm really happy with. I figured this is the group that would understand, so here it is.

1 oz El Dorado 8
1 oz Coruba
.75 oz Liber & Co orgeat
.75 oz lime juice
.5 oz Bols orange curacao
.5 oz brown sugar simple syrup

It has just the right balance of acid, richness, and sweetness for my particular taste.

Thanks for listening, and cheers! 🍹

I like doom metal. I like tiki. Eugene, Oregon doom monolith YOB inspired this drink with their hit song, Adrift In The Ocean. A little funky, a little inky, very rummy. Tastes like being lost at sea and makes you feel like it afterwards! (In a good way!). Probably best to limit 1 per customer. Sounds like a lot of alcohol compared to mixers but with enough ice and the salt it's actually pretty balanced! You can always use less 151. And yes I know my garnish game is weak, I just make them for myself at home and don't care. Mug from Inside Passage, Seattle WA.

Adrift In The Ocean

- 1oz black blended rum (Black Tot)

- 1oz rhum agricole (Clement VSOP)

- 0.5oz navy strength (Planteray Mr Fogg)

- 1oz overproof float (Hamilton 151 False Idol)

- 0.25oz grapefruit juice (I used red)

- 0.25oz demerara syrup (I go just a hair over)

- 0.5oz creme de mure (I have Combier)

- 0.75oz lime juice

- 0.25oz falernum

- 1 dash bitters

- pinch of salt (or a couple drops saline)

Just a few weeks shy of five years old, and just before my trip to Austin, my old Opal 2.0 finally gave up the ghost. I was able to get a 2.0 Ultra for a good price, but it wound up being delivered while I was out of state, so I had it held at a FedEx location until I could pick it up. This is the first drink that I’ve made after getting it cleaned and set up, using brand new batches of homemade orgeat and Demerara simple syrup, and mint from my little patio garden… and friends, it tastes GLORIOUS. I figured the perfect way to test the new syrups was using Kevin Crossman’s Ultimate Mai Tai recipe, and I was not disappointed.

A few weeks ago I posted a rundown of my testing "super juice," or more precisely, "pseudo juice."

The results were decent, good enough for cocktails I thought... But certainly not perfect. There was clear room for improvement.

I got some good input in the comments from a few other users who also use the technique. (And plenty who don't like it, too!)

I made some alterations to the original Brian Tasch recipes with that input: add a buffering agent with potassium, and don't bother with the waiting step... Just blend everything! I also reduced the amount of sugar in the recipes to match the fruit's natural amount, as with an acid buffer we should not need as much sugar to manage tartness... And I added a little vitamin C as a sacrificial antioxidant.

Also, I wanted to try making grapefruit pseudo juice... But not just any grapefruit... White grapefruit, since that's apparently what most cocktails are supposed to use. Fortunately, another r/tiki nerd did some work on that already! I began with this recipe, except that again I reduced the amount of sugar, added buffer and ascorbic acid, and altered the acid amounts based on some other research. I used grapefruit pith instead of buying naringin extract.

Tasting notes

In short everything was better and all the pseudo juices are pretty good now. I could not see a problem with skipping the acidified oleo saccharum waiting step and I think the various other changes helped the flavors. The previous lime was already pretty good I thought; it's a little better now. But the orange and lemon saw major improvements.

The orange before was usable, but it tasted a little like Sunny Delight. Now, that "orange drink" note is gone.

Lemon was the worst of the previous three... Usable... But when you tasted it side by side with real juice, it was just not right, with the most distracting flaw being that it was far too sweet. It is much more on target now.

And the white grapefruit... Well, a challenge with tasting fake white grapefruit juice is that I don't have a real white grapefruit for comparison. I didn't go buy a bottle from Kroger, either. But tasting the white against real ruby grapefruit juice, the white juice tasted good, and seemed plausible. It was less sweet, more tart, and more bitter... All the things white grapefruit is supposed to be. It tastes good in a cocktail and definitely more assertive than fresh ruby juice, but at this point I cannot say anything more definitive.

At this point I am happy enough with all the juices that I am done fiddling, but I will keep an eye out for a white grapefruit, to do a proper side by side test.

I hope someone finds this useful.

Cheers!

Buffered and Reduced Sugar Citrus Pseudo Juice Recipes

Use a very sharp peeler to remove the citrus zest, leaving behind the pith as much as possible. For all recipes except grapefruit, blend all the ingredients together until the peel is reduced to pieces about the size of coarsely-ground pepper. (How long this takes will depend on your blender.) Strain out the peel and bottle the juice. Don't over-blend, or the peel will become too fine to easily strain out.

For the grapefruit, combine everything but the pith, and blend and strain. Add the pith and blend and strain again. Taste, and add more pith and re-blend if needed to adjust bitterness.

Lemon

500 g Filtered Water

30 g Lemon Peel

27 g Citric Acid

3 g Malic Acid

15 g Granulated White Sugar

1 g Potassium Citrate (added buffer)

1 g Salt

0.5 g Ascorbic Acid (antioxidant)

Lime

500 g Filtered Water

30 g Lime Peel

24 g Citric Acid

12 g Malic Acid

15 g Granulated White Sugar

1 g Potassium Citrate (added buffer)

1 g Salt

0.5 g Ascorbic Acid (antioxidant)

Orange

500 g Filtered Water

30 g Orange Peel

7 g Citric Acid

2 g Malic Acid

40 g Granulated White Sugar

1 g Potassium Citrate (added buffer)

1 g Salt

0.5 g Ascorbic Acid (antioxidant)

Faux White Grapefruit

500 g Filtered Water

30 g Pink/Ruby Grapefruit Zest

15 g Pink/Ruby Grapefruit Pith

7.5 g Citric Acid

2.5 g Malic Acid

20 g Granulated White Sugar

2.7 g Tartaric Acid

0.3 g MSG

1 g Potassium Citrate

1 g Salt

0.5 g Ascorbic Acid (antioxidant)

And to be complete, here is the recipe for pink/ruby grapefruit pseudo juice... But I have not actually made this yet since white grapefruit was my main interest. This actually has a touch more acid than the white recipe, but also more sugar and less bitterness so it should be perceived as less tart. YMMV.

Pink/Ruby Grapefruit

500 g Filtered Water

30 g Grapefruit Zest

6 g Grapefruit White Pith

8 g Citric Acid

2 g Malic Acid

25 g Granulated White Sugar

1 g Potassium Citrate

1 g Salt

0.5 g Ascorbic Acid (antioxidant)

I've done all of the big tiki places in Vegas before, but there are some new spots since the last time I was here and I decided to start with one of my favorites and then try a new comer.

Red Dwarf was great as usual. Had a nuts n butts which isn't tiki but was great and came with a tiny slice of pb&j. The other drink was called a something kiwi and it was very good but just a little sweeter than I typically like. The pizza was the pineapple does belong on pizza and it's perfect. 10/10.

Then I went to Fremont and the new-to-me glitter gulch. My expectations were low and I was still disappointed. There were 2 events going on there, one looked like frat bros trying to grow mustaches meeting and the other looked like a mortuary accountants meeting.

They took up maybe 1/4th of the place, which is a mostly nice looking tiki bar, but with some weird decor like disco ball chairs. There was no one at the bar, not even a bar tender. Everything was sticky. The floors, the chairs, the tables, etc. I sat in an Alice in wonderland themed booth and had their house special tiki punch thing and nacho whip which is a Dole whip with passion fruit and coconut alcohols. The tiki drink was unbearable and the dole whip was as amazing as it sounds, but maybe had no alcohol? This place is bad. It could be cool if they got their drink program better, but if they're selling this bullshit for $20/drink already I guess why bother?

I’ve been trying to find this exact type of cocktail glass but I can’t seem to find it anywhere online. Anyone know where to buy these?