Monday, October 19, 2020

A Moment of Tiki: Mermaids and Mai Tais

A Moment of Tiki: Mermaid on the Wall
"A Moment of Tiki" returns for your viewing pleasure with two new episodes!

First up is episode 16: Mermaid on the Wall. I have a large section of blank wall in a stairwell that needs filling. My wife, of Secrets By Miss Lisa fame, provided the tiki-adjacent artistic content in the form of a large mermaid banner. It was up to me to figure out how to hang it. The easy solution would be to punch a couple of brass grommets on the top and call it a day, but brass grommets aren't very tiki, are they? Bamboo, on the other hand, are tiki as all get-out, and way back in episode 1 I showed everyone how to torch bamboo for projects such as this!

In episode 17, I discuss orgeat and the Mai Tai. There is only one Mai Tai recipe--that which Trader Vic created in 1944 whilst attempting to reverse-engineer Donn Beach's Q.B. Cooler cocktail. Since then, the Mai Tai has become the standard by which all tiki bars are judged. Even though the base recipe allows a great deal of flexibility without turning the drink into an abomination by adding pineapple and cherries, one of the keys to serving a good Mai Tai is to use quality orgeat. I'm not going to lie--I didn't much like the first Mai Tais I ever drank, mainly because they used mediocre, mass-produced commercial orgeats that tasted more like a chemical spill than an almond-flavored syrup. Thankfully, the craft cocktail renaissance means that there are now quality craft orgeats on the market, but sadly, these are not available in every city. The solution is to go the homemade route. Making orgeat at home is not complicated, but it is a bit time consuming. In this episode, I walk you through the steps.

Remember, you can view all of my videos online at YouTube. If you enjoy, don't forget to subscribe and leave a comment! I'll be mighty grateful!

Episode 16: Mermaid on the Wall

Episode 17: Orgeat (& a Mai Tai)

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