Do you remember when we were shooting Hacking the System? We went to a tiki bar.
Oh, you son of a bitch.
[laughter]
[synthetic robot voice] The Modern Rogue makes a mai tai.
So you've never had a Mai Tai before?
No.
Do you know anything about them?
I... no.
Okay. [laughter]
Like most tiki drinks, they're rum based drinks,
the mai tai, it's origins are disputed.
It was either created by
"Trader" Vic Bergeron or Don "The Beachcomber."
Right on the early part of the tiki craze
that happened right after World War 2
when people were coming back from the Pacific Theater-
So this is why I associate it with the 1950's, then?
Absolutely.
I'll tell you this much, if I am going to experience
my very first mai tai I want it to be made by none other
than Trever.
- Yes! - Thank you very much, sir.
Trever, tell everyone where they can find you on twitter.
You can find me at Barstooltheory.
Let's express again, we are in a secret bar
in downtown Austin that you have to know the code to get into.
It doesn't have a sign...
Disguised as a perfectly legitimate business.
Yes, and it is amazing.
Jason: It's also horror themed inside which makes it my jam.
Brian: Oh, I didn't even realize that.
Brian: That's, it-it is! Jason: How did you not realize?!
The floor is the carpet from The Shining!
Brian: Okay, all right, all right.
So what is a mai tai, and what is in it?
There are a lot of different components to a mai tai,
but this one's really easy to make
and I feel like if you go out and look
you're just going to be inundated by too many different recipes
so let's keep it simple here.
Brian: Yeah, yeah.
The great thing about when you make Tiki drinks is
you don't have to have tools,
you need a shaker, you need ice, you need booze,
you need a cup, and you got a Tiki drink.
We're going to be using a light rum and a dark rum.
So we're gonna start off with one ounce of Plantation,
this is aged five years, it's a Barbados rum.
Brian: What is the difference between a light rum and a dark rum?
It depends on the distillation process, what sugar is added.
Rum is like the wild, wild west of liquors.
There aren't many regulations on it
and you can do more in the distillation process
than you can, say, with whisky or gin.
So you're saying this is- we are in the process of sorting out
what's what and deciding what names-okay, very cool. - Exactly.
And most tiki drinks are rum based drinks.
What is it about rum and seafaring vessels?
Like, why is rum suddenly great on boats?
I think that most of the islands that the
seafaring vessels and the pirates were around
were growing sugarcane.
They all have sugar.
And that's where the rum comes from. - Got it.
And then, next we're going to go with an ounce of white rum
today we're using Flor de Cana.
Jason: So these are all pretty standard boiler plate rum?
You're going to be able to find these rums in most liquor stores.
Next, we're going to use a dry curaçao
this one is actually a triple-sec from the island of Curaçao.
He directed Seven Samurai.
[stammering] No, okay.
[laughter]
Brian: What is a curaçao?
I know a triple sec is a liquor, but what is curaçao
triple sec, what is it?
Curaçao is a dry liquor made from oranges.
Next, we're gonna do a 3/4 ounce pour
of lime juice.
Brian: Oh, so this is zestier than I thought.
And then, we're going to add a orgeat.
This is an almond flavored simple syrup.
I'm sorry, was that English? What?
Orgeat.
[bewildered] Brian: Orgeat.
Trever: Orgeat. Brian: Okay, and we learned that a simple syrup is
granulated sugar mixed with water.
Got it.
And this one is pure sugarcane mixed-and that is boiled with almonds
to get the oils and fat out of the almond. Brian: Oh, wonderful. Very cool.
And this is actually nothing exotic either,
you could find this on most shelves.
So now we're going to do a .75, or
3/4 of an ounce pour of orgeat.
Now, with this drink there's just a couple different steps.
So, we're gonna add ice to our tin.
Brian: Now previously we've always done the big blocks
because we haven't wanted to dilute this,
but this looks like we're doing some crushed ice.
Exactly.
When you do tiki drinks a lot of times
they're overproof or have more flavorful liquors in them.
You want a little bit of dilution
you want some water in your tiki drink.
This is not a bad thing.
So we're going to take our ice, we're going to get some crushed ice in there as well.
We're going to fill that to the brim.
We're gonna take our liquor with our crushed ice,
we're going to cap it off
and normally when you have cubed ice or
you're doing a more classic drink,
you're going to shake it a really long time.
With tiki drinks..
Boom. You're done.
Oh, that's it?
I thought for sure you were going to go nuts shaking it
so it was super dilute!
Trever: No. Jason: It's because the ice is already
all crushed and broken up.
Trever: Now this drink isn't quite done.
After we pour this in, we are gonna add even more booze.
A lot of times you will use like a 151, a really, really overproof rum.
- Think Lemon Hart, Bacardi. - Now when you say overproof,
you mean, just higher than is pleasant to drink.
Anything that's over 100 is overproof.
But this time we're just going to use a dark Meyer's rum.
Jason: So like three different types of rum?
Trever: Yes, and just float it right on top.
You said that with so much reverance.
[whistfully] "You mean like three types of rum?"
I've been down this road Brian.
I know how it ends.
Trever: Add some spanked mint
and you're done.
Brian: Wow. Man, I can smell the mint from here! That's crazy.
Jason: So we've got three different types of rum.
The curaçao,
the orgeat,
the lime juice,
and the mint.
Man, I feel like you have honors on this one.
I mean it's like you worship tiki culture, man.
I have been meaning all summer to learn how to make- Trever: Oh wait wait wait, wait.
We're doing tiki, right guys?
Jason: Yeah... Brian: Oh, oh. Oh!
[laughter] This glass doesn't do us any justice!
Jason: We need something tacky.
Jason: Yes! Brian: Oh my god!
I actually have a collection of tiki mugs at home.
Now it's tiki!
Dude, Darren Kitchen eat your heart out.
That's refreshing.
I feel like I'm on an island.
Quick sidenote,
what does it change in the drink to
slurp it through a straw?
With a tiki drink
you wanna get it down as fast as possible Brian: All right, all right, all right.
because you're typically wearing an ugly shirt that you regret buying.
[laughter]
I don't want to say this looks like I used to look,
[sharp laugh]
Brian: It's got to be a little Brian Brushwood.
It's got the old Brian haircut!
Look at that, is that beeswax?
How do you do that?
It's mine, get outta here.
[laughter]
— CC BY BIZARRE MAGIC IN CONJUNCTION WITH VIEWER-SUBMITTED CAPTIONS —