If you go to the Bali Hai restaurant today and order a Mr. Bali Hai, you will not get this drink. The recipe has been changed over time, and this recipe is from the 2002 book “Intoxica” by Jeff Beachbum Berry. Tiki cocktails are not like old classic cocktails that every bar makes; many tiki recipes tend to be unique to each bar and get changed over time to adjust to the evolving trends and differentiate from competitors. The current Mr. Bali Hai is made with blackberry liqueur, whereas this one is made with coffee liqueur. Jeff Beachbum Berry cites this as the version he got during the 1980s when he first visited the restaurant, but he dates this recipe back to the 1970s. Mr. Bali Hai also comes with a super cool mug that can only be bought at that bar. The face looks like the giant wooden head hunter statue outside the entrance.
History Of The Bali Hai Restaurant.
The Bali Hai is a Tahitian-themed restaurant on Shelter Island in San Diego, CA. The Bali Hai on Shelter Island started as one of a tiki-themed bar chain locations called Christian’s Hut. Christian’s Hut opened in 1935 and was originally the makeshift bar under Clark Gable’s room. While filming the 1935 film “Mutiny on the Bounty,” Clark Gable played the character Fletcher Christian and the building (Bedroom above makeshift party bar below) became known as Christian’s Hut. After filming ended, the crew had the foresight to keep the building, move it to Newport Beach, and open a Tahitian-themed restaurant. I’m not sure how much of this was inspired by Don The Beachcomber, which opened in 1934 in Los Angeles, but part of the movie does take place in Tahiti, so that the Polynesian theme may have come from there. It could have been a bit of both. The restaurant and bar did well and eventually opened several other locations. One of those other locations was on Shelter Island in San Diego.
By the early 1950s, Christian Hut on Shelter Island started to fall on hard times. A new owner named Tom Ham stepped in, renamed the restaurant the Bali Hai, which in Indonesian means “Your own special island,” and was able to turn the restaurant around. The bar and restaurant are still open and worth visiting if you want to see one of the original and few surviving Polynesian-themed restaurants.
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Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings
1
servings
Calories
312
kcal
ABV
18%
Total time
3
minutes
Make The Classic Mr. Bali Hai
Ingredients
1ozLemon Juice
1.5ozPineapple Juice
1/2ozSimple Syrup
2/3ozCoffee Liqueur
1ozWhite Rum
1.5ozBlack Rum
Directions
Combine all ingredients into a shaker, and add a scoop of shaved ice. If you do not have shaved ice then crushed ice will do.
Vigorously shake till the shaker is ice cold and frosted.
Pour the whole shaker into the serving glass. Ice and all
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Invented by Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in London during the late 1980s, the espresso martini was the request of one of the patrons. Dick Bradsell claims a famous supermodel walked into the bar and requested a cocktail that would “Wake me up, and fuck me up.” He liked to elude to who, but he never said precisely who requested the drink, but most think it was Kate Moss; the other guess is maybe Naomi Campbell. Interestingly Kate Moss was born in 1974, so for this version to be true, the oldest Kate Moss could have been was 16. She didn’t turn 18 till 1992. Maybe that’s why he never wanted to say who the model was, or the story is a bit exaggerated to make it sound cooler. Either way, who cares. It was over 30 years ago, and the espresso martini is excellent. The original name for the espresso martini was the vodka espresso, but somewhere along the line, they went with espresso martini because it sounded cooler. During this period, there was also Cold War resentment, and Dick Bradsell mentioned in interviews how he would try to avoid using Russian vodkas as it upset some in positions of power over him. Perhaps dropping the word vodka from its name was a strategic move to help avoid criticism.
Can You Use Normal Coffee To Make An Espresso Martini?
Of course, you can use regular coffee for an espresso martini; you can do whatever you damn well please, but it may not have the same flavor or foam on top. If you want to make an espresso martini, you need espresso. Drip coffee gets you 50% of the way there but not all the way. It will still be good but not the same. This matters, and why espresso is much better for this drink than regular drip coffee is the water to coffee ratio of espresso vs. drip coffee. Espresso is a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio of coffee to water, and traditional drip coffee is around 1:10 for a medium flavor cup of coffee. The drip coffee is fine, but since you are only using 1 oz of it, you want as much flavor and coffee bean oils as possible. The oil helps give it foam (read the section below on froth), and drip coffee will leave the drink underwhelming, but the Kahlua does help.
I won’t lie; I was gifted a big espresso maker that cost a ton when helping a friend move; I would never personally pay for a coffee maker that cost as much as this one cost, but it is super fast and easy to use and convenient for getting an espresso shot or two right away. Although, after all the years of drinking good and bad coffee and owning different makers, my favorite espresso maker is still my old little cheap Bialetti stovetop unit. It’s 30 bucks, has no moving parts, is easy to use, and makes hands down the best espresso. I would challenge my old dirty little Bialetti to the most expensive espresso machine any day. It’s one of those things invented 100+ years ago and has never changed because the first design was perfect. TLDR, if you are planning to make a ton of these, then get a machine to pull quick shots, but if you’re making a few for yourself and friends, save your money and use a cheap stovetop unit. Also, I find how tight the espresso is tamped down to be more meaningful. There are little torque tampers that click when the pressure is ideal, but you press until you can press anymore and feel the grains stop compressing. Don’t hulk it, but don’t be afraid to smash it down. This helps promote a more even and slower extraction. This was a bit of a coffee rant, but I hope it helps if you were wondering.
How To Make An Espresso Martini Frothy?
Shaking produces tons of bubbles but without something to stabilize the bubbles and keep them from falling apart back into the drink. Typically in cocktails, the denatured protein in egg whites is used to create foam but how do you make foam without egg whites? Try shaking a martini, it will never get foamy. So the bubble stabilizing parts of an espresso martini are oil and sugar. Oil and sugar help increases the viscosity of the drink and makes it difficult for the bubbles to break apart or combine into larger bubbles. Also you kinda just gotta shake the shit out of it. You don’t need to shake it any longer but it should be a bit harder than usual since you’re trying to get a drink to foam that doesn’t want to.
The photo I took of this cocktail was made with this exact recipe, but sometimes you get different results even when you do something the same way. That’s life. So if the foam does not quite look like this, then first check your espresso. The rule of thumb is the more light brown foam on top of your espresso, the more oil. The foam on top of the espresso shot is the oils from the coffee bean. Experiment with a longer or slower extraction, if you can, to see if you get more foam on the top of your espresso. Personally, my machine pulls a shot a bit too fast. I found that my second shot of the same grounds has way more foam than my first shot and tastes better. Maybe it is a setting I need to change or how this one works. White foam is not helpful, though, and is just the shot getting watered down. White foam is mostly watery coffee bean oil that won’t hold or taste good. It should be a nice light brown; once the espresso foam starts to lose color, you are pulling too long. Also, try different brands. Different brands roast differently, which can change how much oil the toasted seeds can hold. I’ve always been a big fan of the Cuban brands, but the Italian ones are good. Another thing to try is adding a bit more sugar or coffee liqueur. Not too much as these proportions are good, but a teaspoon more (5mls) can help hold the foam after shaking. Also, if you ever watch a video of Dick Bradsell making an espresso martini, it’s not very foamy, and he’s the guy who invented them.
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If you have ever struggled with a recipe or wonder why yours are not turning out like they do at the bar then check out my simple step-by-step videos. I will walk you through how to expertly build each drink so you get consistently great results.
The Bahama Mama is not just a cocktail that gets you thrown out of an Applebees for disorderly conduct. It’s a unique and tasty Caribbean cocktail. The only person who claims to have invented the Bahama Mama was Caribbean bartender Oswald Greenslade in his 2012 Cocktail book “One More Cocktail: A Guide to Making Bahamian Cocktails” Oswald Greenslade’s website says he didn’t start his bartending career until 1961. Still, the Bahama Mama was already a known drink by the 1950s. So chances are he didn’t invent it, but this may still be the closest we have to an early 1950s Caribbean recipe.
Bahama Mama Variations.
There are as many Bahama Mama variations as there are Bahama Mamas. Some look like tequila sunrises; some are grapefruit-based, orange-based, passion fruit, etc. They come in all colors. There is nothing to say this is the definitive recipe, but Oswald Greenslade is the only one I can find who claims to have the authentic recipe/ inventing it. There is probably no singular original recipe, and there may never have been.
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If you have ever struggled with a recipe or wonder why yours are not turning out like they do at the bar then check out my simple step-by-step videos. I will walk you through how to expertly build each drink so you get consistently great results.
More than a tequila cocktail, I think of this as a Kahula cocktail, and this is a fantastic Kahlua cocktail. So if you’re not usually a coffee liqueur fan, this one is still worth a shot. If you already like Black or White Russians, this one may become your new favorite. This cocktail taste exactly as you would expect. It tastes like cold tequila and Kahlua. What makes the drink good are the proportions. Kahlua is intensely sweet but the tequila cuts it well. The tequila is strong but the ice dilutes it and chills it just enough. The trick to getting this cocktail right is to stir it for a little bit longer than you typically would stir a drink like this. It needs that extra chill and water to balance out, but if the balance is right it tastes great.
There was a 1950s movie called The Brave Bulls, and maybe it was named after that, but there is no evidence to suggest so. I have never seen the movie but maybe it is where Vic Bergeron got the name from.
Tequila Cocktails And Their History
You may be surprised to know that tequila is not a common spirit in cocktails. Most commonly known tequila cocktails come from only two sources. The 1937 “Cafe Royal Cocktail Book” and the 1972 “Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide.” While there are a few outliers like the Paloma or Tequila Sunrise, the fact of the matter is tequila has never been a popular spirit for mixing. This is unfortunate because it tastes great. Tequila is often had straight, but most tequila cocktails can be traced to one of those two sources. This recipe is no different and is from the 1972 Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide.
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Download The Official Vintage American Cocktails App
If you have ever struggled with a recipe or wonder why yours are not turning out like they do at the bar then check out my simple step-by-step videos. I will walk you through how to expertly build each drink so you get consistently great results.
This drink is a bit too sweet for me, but I make them and drink them anyway because I want to feel as cool as the Dude. The Big Lebowski is a cult classic, and therefore this drink will always have a cult following. This drink is just the boozier version of a Kahlua and Cream.
Another variation is the Black Russian, which is just coffee liqueur and vodka. These drinks started showing up in the late 40s early 50s, but it wasn’t until the film The Big Lebowski that the White Russian gained popularity.
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Download The Official Vintage American Cocktails App
0 from 0 votesOnly logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings
1
servings
Calories
398
kcal
ABV
22%
Total time
3
minutes
Learn how to make a classic White Russian.
Ingredients
1.5ozCoffee Liqueur
1.5ozVodka
1ozHeavy Cream
Directions
Add ice to the serving glass. Combine all the Vodka and Coffee Liqueur in the glass and give it a few turns to chill and mix.
Top the cocktail with heavy cream or for a nicer presentation, shake the heavy cream in a shaker for a minute to lightly whip it before topping the cocktail.
If you have ever struggled with a recipe or wonder why yours are not turning out like they do at the bar then check out my simple step-by-step videos. I will walk you through how to expertly build each drink so you get consistently great results.