A Classic Trader Vic’s Cocktail | The Molokai Mike

It is my time, my time, it is still my time month. We're going to build this in a shaker tin, build this in your small shaker tin, and shake this for five to this. We're going to shake this one. So build this in your small shaker tin and shake this. And we're, of course, going to shake this one vigorously on ice. It's my time month. We're going to build this in a small shaker tin. First time the Mai Tai was featured on a menu outside of the original Trader Vick's in Oakland, California was at the Outrigger. The Outrigger was created by Trader Vick for the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Seattle. It opened its doors in 1948, and the Mai Tai was not the featured cocktail. Instead, the menu featured drinks in alphabetical order with the fog cutter first in this strong category. Sometime later, the menu is updated with two featured cocktails, neither the Mai Tai. Instead, it's the Molokai Mike and the Puka Punch. It's probably the late 1940s, early 1950s, as the menu prices are almost the same, except for a five cent increase on some of the weak drinks. The Molokai Mike is described as our newest and one of the best. Two delicious drinks served in one glass. The recipe was shared in the updated Trader Vick's Bartender's Guide from 1972, and it's not a drink that is missing from modern times. Just Google it, and you'll see a handful of results. It's even in the Trader Vick's Tiki Party book. But all of them are making it wrong because they are all blending this drink, and that's not what the man said to do. He said, Blend first six ingredients in electric drink mixer. Pour into bottom half of Molokai Mike glass. Blend the remaining three ingredients in electric drink mixer. Slowly pour into top half of glass. While the trader is often not credited with using a drink mixer, and some claim his drinks to be simpler and always shaken, the phrase electric drink mixer comes up 133 times in his 1972 Bartender's Guide. And if you think he may be referring to a traditional blender, he is not. Drinks made of fruit juice, eggs, cream, and sugar will be cloudy anyway, and the proper blending of these difficult to blend ingredients requires shaking. Sometimes it is done in electric drink mixer, especially designed for commercial bar use or in a regular blender. Commercial electric drink mixer or a regular blender usually gives a creamy, smooth result. And like so many other words of Trader Vick, there are contradictions in it. But I'm not picking on him because you can find tiny little discrepancies from time to time in his words. Don the Beachcomber, Steve Crane, they didn't have multiple Bartender's Guides, an autobiography, and several other food, drink, and cookbooks. I don't know, but we probably have somewhere between 1,500 to over 2,000 pages of Trader Vick's own words and none from the others. So these things do come up from time to time. So it's clear he is no lover of the electric drink mixer, but he does call for it here in this recipe. However, he says the words creamy, smooth, which you can't achieve in a drink mixer with nugget ice. But nugget ice didn't exist in these times and they were using shaved ice, which I'm going to use as well. We're gonna build this in an electric drink mixer tin, starting with one ounce of orange juice, one ounce of lemon juice, half an ounce of hors d'oeuvres, half an ounce of brandy or cognac, one ounce of a light Puerto Rican rum, and one cup of shaved ice. Blend these first six ingredients in the electric drink mixer, and then pour it into the bottom half of a Moakai Mike glass. Half an ounce of a dark rum, I'm using a Demerara here, quarter ounce of grenadine, using roses of course, and half a cup of shaved ice. Now we're gonna blend the remaining three ingredients in the electric drink mixer, and slowly pour on the top half of the glass. All right, so let's try the Moakai Mike. So far, so good. Tastes like orange juice. I should note here, this is not a 1970s style drink. This is 1948 Seattle, and the only historic image I could find was from around 1960, 1962, and you can't really see the drink, but it does look like there's a strawberry. I'll put the picture up of that drink. Looks like they used a strawberry to garnish. Can't really tell if there's anything else. Definitely not mint. Let's mix it up. All right, it's a little bit better. You can taste the rum a little more now. Now, before I mix it, that bottom half, you have an ounce of Puerto Rican rum and half an ounce of brandy or cognac, but it really just tastes like orange juice and a little bit of booze, but that's kind of it. I don't know if they use shaved ice in the drink mixer. Just if you read the directions, that's exactly what it says to do. Now, if you did this in a blender, would it turn out better? Yeah, it would definitely turn out better. There is, I think, something we could do to help this drink just a little bit. All right, that definitely helps. I still don't taste the orgeat. You get the acidity from the lemon, but it's not super noticeable. It's not super balanced. I do think the drink is over-diluted. It's just too much ice, and it's hard to control the amount of ice you're using when you're using shaved ice. I mean, I don't know what the size of the shaved ice they were using in 1948 compared to the shaved ice I use. It's definitely not creamy smooth like it's supposed to be. Here's what it looks like in the Trader Vic's party book, and that is a more appropriate glassware for that. I've never seen a Molokai Mike glass sold as that. I mean, I haven't looked too long, only the last couple of weeks, but it is a shortened type of Hurricane glass, and it does call for that specific glass, a Molokai Mike glass. So making this in a blender would have been better, but the man said to use an electric drink mixer, which we did. Now, if I was giving you some advice, if you wanted to make this drink at home, I would say just skip it. It's okay. You don't need to go to the trouble. It's not a, it's a fun drink. It doesn't, it looks fun when you first make it. Doesn't taste bad, just not worth the pain in the ass. So that's it for this one. I'm Derek, this is Make & Drink. If you enjoyed the video, give it a like below, consider subscribing to the channel. There's links below to my Patreon, as well as glassware, my own Mai Tai glass. You can check that out at the Make & Drink shop. See you in the next one.