Cocktail fail!

A Strawberry Daiquiri, a Margarita Margarita, and a Pina Colada Pina Colada.

Ok, that is not really what they are, it just looks that way because of the graphic and type treatment of the packaging.

I think this idea is pretty neat. And in Original Ice's defense the page I pulled this image from listed the "Top 5 Things to Do On Your Bachelorette's"

Side note... my dirty little mind added all kinds of things to the end of that incomplete sentence.

Don't get me wrong, I am not hating on Original Ice. I like the Brand and the Company, this is a pretty ingenious idea. I haven't, however, tried the product so I will have to go with the reviews of others. I do give Original Ice extra bonus points for not calling these cocktails. They call them "Spirit Coolers."

The still represent Cocktail Fail..... Lemmesplain....

First, I do not like pre-packaged cocktails. Period. Horrible idea. Don't do it. Bad.

Second, the fact that your market (one of them at least) is the Bachelorette's is a pretty big Fail all by itself. It is pretty hard to say "Enjoy Responsibly" and the attach your product to a "Pole Dancing Party" or "Male Dancers Party" with the implied goal of getting stupid drunk so that the next day you can reclaim your innocence by blaming the alcohol from the night before.

I understand you have to market your product in order to sell your product, I just don't like targeting your product, any alcohol product, to a group of people who seem to have the singular goal of getting stupid and dangerously drunk. Drinking is the goal, not getting drunk. Enjoy the drink, enjoy the buzz, don't waste it by getting so pissed you have to rely on photos to know what you did the night before.

I guess the real reason I keep harping on these kinds of products is because I can envision the day, quite soon really, when some politician's kid gets into some kind of trouble after taking down too many juice-boxes of booze and deciding that Alcohol is far too easy to lay hands on and should be taxed and legislated and a whole bunch of other horrible things that will make it that much harder me to get good ingredients for my Mai Tais. I already have a hard time getting some quality rums because I am in a Distributor State so if the Distributor doesn't think they can profit they don't carry.

Anyway, that's all I got for tonight. Thanks for reading.

Drink Presentation

YUMMY Flaming Shots!
Originally uploaded by Princess Pupule

First, thank you to Princess Pupule! Your camera is so much better than mine.

And then....

Can presentation make a bad drink more better?

This particular presentation is called a Russian Roulette and is not on the regular menu. It is a really fancy presentation for what is basically a Lemon Drop.... A shot of nice white rum topped with a lemon wheel dipped in sugar, then the whole thing is doused with 151 and set a blaze.

The drink is fine by itself so I am not banging on that particular drink, I am just using it as a great photographic example..... doesn't it just look like it is going to be something spectacular? All flame-ey and people stepping back from its flame-ey spectacularness. In person even more better because of the low-hanging thatch roof over the particular piece of bar that is on fire.

And all of that sensational fiery and dangerous presentation for what is, once the fire has gone out, a shot of rum with lemon.

So, what do you think? Can less than spectacular drinks be 'saved' by overly elaborate garnishes or presentations?

The Mai Kai Mystery Bowl

Mystery Dance
Originally uploaded by chipandandy

This is the Mai Kai.

This is the Mystery Drink.

It is served in the Mystery Bowl.

It is presented Mysteriously by a Lovely Hula Maiden.

This drink is being enjoyed tonight in celebration of birthdays. Several of them in fact. And if your birthday is about this time of year, Happy Birthday to you. You should go to the Mai Kai with all of your friends and order a Mystery Drink.

You will enjoy it.

I promise!

Want a Hawaiian Punch?

rinds and all go in the punch
Originally uploaded by Lokis world

I'm going to steal a bit of Loki's thunder and tell you about a fascinating punch he served recently.....

Trader Vic's Tahitian Rum Punch

2 pounds brown Sugar

5 Dozen Oranges

4 Dozen Lemons

10 Bananas

3 Grapefruit

2 Sprigs Mint

10 Bottles of White Wine

6 Bottles of White Rum

1 Bottle of Jamaican Rum

Squeeze the fruit and slice the bananas and put everything except the rum in a very large crock. Everything, rinds and all, put it all in there. Let this stand overnight. On the next day, add your rum. Strain off and discard the fruit pulp and rinds and pour your punch into a large bowl (or small barrel) with plenty of ice. Add a ladle and some glassware and you are done.

This is from Trader Vic's 1946 Book of Food & Drink. And, yes, that is TEN bottles of white wine and SIX bottles of rum, well seven bottles of rum total. The rums were originally called as Boca Chica or Brugal for the white rum and Red Heart or Myers' for the Jamaican. I think Loki used Cruzan and Meyer's because they were both readily available.

On a side note, here in Florida you would think that we would have access to just about every rum known to man seeing as most of it has to cross our path from the Islands to you. Sadly, our liquor stores have a generally sad collection of rums. Unless, of course, you want something from Barcardi, then they have many cases of the stuff on the shelf.

Back to the punch....

This makes the most scary looking vat of stuff you have ever seen. Click on the photo and take a look at the other shots, you'll see what I mean. However, when this gets poured off into the serving bowl, the crowd goes wild. The total volume of this when done is just about five gallons, and I was pouring gallon three into the bowl after only about two hours of party.

The most common question I heard was "Wow! This is good!" Then they would scrunch up their face and try to figure out what 'that' taste was.... that odd bit of something you weren't expecting from a rum punch. (psst.... its the wine!) Then, they would very quickly go back for more.

To make a long story short (too late...) this is an excellent punch and is worth the effort. It makes a large quantity and can be made the day before your party freeing you up to other party planning duties. It doesn't have too many ingredients making it easy to mix up and eliminates the "what's that" when explaining to your guests what is in their cup. Everything a good punch should be.

And, if you take the time to fish out the bananas, they are preserved quite nicely and make a fabulous desert if you drizzle a bit of dark rum over them.