Here’s the “orgeat calculator”, so you always end up with the same result when making your syrups: www.kevinkos.com/syrup-calculator If you like what we do, you can support the channel here: 👕 Merch: my-store-11171765.creator-spring.com 🎩 Patreon: www.patreon.com/cocktailtime 🛒 My Store: kit.co/KevinKos
I really appreciate these calculator. Even as someone who is comfortable with doing the math they make these things so much easier as I only have to put one number in. Plus it saves me remembering the ratios.
Tiki bars are so very popular in California with the Polynesian escapism vibe. We go to several tiki markets in different parts of California every year. Everybody over here seems to be really into the whole style and vibe of tiki. There's also a lot of crossover into the Polynesian pop and rockabilly scenes.
Not only your cocktail recipes are wonderful but your attention to details in the videos is amazing, I loved the synchronisation between the music and tapping the spoon, keep going guys :)
Your channel is the perfect example of one to show people who want to get into RU-vid. You literally have the highest quality I've ever seen on RU-vid, with only like 1% of the views you should be getting. It's brutal out here. Huge fan, so happy RU-vid brought me here.
I love using the Plantation Xaymaca for Mai Tais. It's pretty inexpensive and it works so well in this drink. I usually flip the quantity of the orgeat and curaçao
Clement blanc ( 50%) and smith & cross (57%) as rums. extreme funky both so adjust volume to compensate ridiculously high abv and use only orgeat ( no simple, or the orgeat will vanish under all that funk)
A somewhat unorthodox “tiki” cocktail is the Saturn. 1 oz (30 ml) lemon juice 1/2 oz (15 ml) orgeat 1/2 oz (15 ml) passion fruit syrup 1/4 oz (7 ml) falernum of choice 2 oz (60 ml) London dry gin Whip shake with a few cubes and some pebble ice dirty pour into a mug and top with more pebble ice.
Such a thoughtful and complete video! Recipes here are always amazing, but special shout-out to the direction/cinematography. That focus shift from the rums to the dry curaçao? Wonderful!
2 года назад
Thank you for noticing that! Believe it or not, this whole segment where we showed the ingredients was Kevin guiding me on the fly! 😄 because our director Robi went looking for something. We instantly knew we got the shots! Thanks for watching.
Kevin, try toasting your almonds first (after a brief blanch to remove the skins). Soooo much tastier!!!!! Oh and for rums, I stay away from both of those rums as they have added sugar.
My favorite Rum combination for the May Tai is Smith&Cross, for the power in abv and the funkienes, and El Dorado 8yrs or 15yrs, for the body and spicy notes. You've sticked to the Trader Vic version of the Mai Tai but what about the Don the Beachcomber version?
Lep pozdrav iz Kanade. I cannot wait to try this orgeat recipe. I don’t think there is a more delicious drink while sitting under a hot sun than a Mai Tai. But, there are too many incorrect recipes so I am happy that you are educating the world. I like to use a Jamaican rum (Appleton Estate) and a Rhum Agricole from Martinique (Saint James). I can’t wait for the next episode!
Acidity may affect guar gum with the ability of thickening, but it might work too. If you will try it out I would love to hear your results. Best regards to Croatia!
Did you read any of the articles Kevin mentioned/provided? No one is coming for your tiki mugs just yet, but just read up on why these conversations are important. Maybe not to you and me, but that's the point.
@@robifiser he literally said bars are removing them and people aren’t calling it tiki any more. Lost lake officially came out and said they won’t call it tiki. I’m not actually worried someone is going to “take my mugs”, it’s just incredibly stupid to stop calling it tiki and pretend that is hurting anyone. Just virtue signaling.
@@moehoward21 you replied but didn't answer my question though. Did you read the articles to try and see the other perspective, to see why this is so important to some? You might still feel it's stupid and that's totally your right, but to some it matters. Either way, enjoy your cocktails!
@@robifiser I’m reading them right now while I sip this Tiki Cocktail out of a Mahalo grass skirt ohanu spirit mug. I am definitely a tiki cocktail enjoyer thank you
One of my all-time favorite cocktails is the Army & Navy; the combination of London dry's juniper-forward tonicity and the nutty, floral notes of orgeat are not to be understated!
Thank you! I use Canva for making it and I uploaded them on a Patreon page. They might get a couple of minutes in some of the future episodes. Thank you for the ideas. Cheers!
2 года назад
I love how things come together sometimes while editing. Like music and spoon hitting on 6:15. Mai Tai was amazing.
I’ve made a cheater version using a high quality unsweetened almond milk, sugar, almond extract, and orange blossom water. Great alternative if you’re short on time. Throw in a splash of cognac to help with flavor and preservation. Not as good as the video but great in a pinch!
@@JasminMiettunen sometimes the almond milk just isn’t “almondy” enough. If you’ve a good orgeat like the one in the video, the almond notes are super prominent. Cheating with unsweetened almond milk you will lose some of that intensity, and each batch/milk is different. I really go by taste. I hope this helps!
@@terryfrance3570 A dark or aged rum would be fine if that's what you have, it might be a bit redundant since most cocktails that use orgeat have rum, but it won't hurt. As for almond extract, I always go by taste, but 1 tsp per cup of almond milk used is fairly safe ratio, but sometimes I bump it to 1 Tbsp. The cognac, orange blossom water and almond extract don't go in until the end so it's perfectly fine to taste as you go until it's where you want it. Mine is never the same twice.
Plantation: Isle of Fiji + Bacardi 4 or 8, or Appleton, Plantation Dark, or... equal parts, but it's the Fiji that brings out the funk! For the orgeat - save your peach and apricot pits. Just a few really brings out the amaretto.
I make my Orgeat with local store brand non sweetened almond milk. I’ll have to try adding rose water next time I make it. Keep up the great work Kevin!
Nice recipe! I prefer a rich Orgeat, like the recipe in "Smuggler's Cove" as these are the recipies I usually tend to make. I also subbed store brought almond milk, as Anders Erickson once suggested. As it probably already contains some form of emulsifier, I did not add the Xatan/Gum. But I have to try the homemade almond milk for sure to see if the oils improve the taste!
Great job explaining the recipe. I'll be sure to take notes and check out the calculator you guys made. Thanks for also taking the time to address the cultural aspects of Tropical Drinks. Often people mistake respect for something high and mighty but it's just plain decency. Great job guys.
I get asked for mai thai's all the time at my work, I always tell them we don't have orgeot, as that it's a fairly obscure ingredient. Now I see why. But considering that it's fairly low in labor intensity, I might actually convince my work to let me make this so we can offer proper Mai Thais. I could easily start the process in the begining of my shift by letting the nuts soak, then in the middle of my shift, go to blend then filter the nuts, then at the end of my shift, finish putting everything together, and bottle it up!! Once they see that we can sell them at a premium, there is no doubt they will want me to make more!!
What percentage is the saline solution? Since you asked about rums, I always try and stick close to the original and go with a Jamaican rum, such as Appleton 12 or Smith & Cross. I do a mai tai every Monday on my channel so feel free to check it out for some inspiration.
Instant fan of this channel. Found you five minutes ago, drunk off my little behind (on nothing quite as fancy as your drinks), and dead tired... But I can't stop watching your videos! Pure class, oozing production-quality.. Keep at it guy, this channel slaps!
Hey Kevin, I realize this video is now 2 years old, but it's still my go-to! Quick question, I prefer a rich orgeat. Considering that's already pretty viscous, how would I adjust the xanthan and gum Arabic? Thanks for everything you do!
Being a bar manager from the Bay Area, having to make a Mai Tai with all the juices and the grenadine never sat well with me, especially knowing that it's a bay Area drink. My solution to combat the bastardization of this drink was to create.....a Pineapple Mai Tai. It preserves the integrity of the drink (using Orgeat) and wins over the crowds. Here's the recipe, if you'd like to try it out. 1 oz/30 ml Plantation Pineapple Rum 0.75 oz/22ml Plantation Dark Rum 0.75 oz/22 ml Lime 0.75 oz/22 ml Orgeat (I use Fee Brothers because it is shelf stable) 1 oz/30 ml Pineapple Puree (Pineapple Juice will suffice) Combine all ingredients Shake, strain, enjoy Cheers!
For my Orgeat i add a quarter of the sugar as brown sugar. It gives really nice caramel notes which pair well with the almond. However. This is a specific call for my mai tai spec, dont know how it is doing in other cocktails :D --> I build a whisky sour around my orgeat as well. I use a scotch blend with nice vanilla and kardamom notes from a local liquor store. Couldnt find it online. However i think bourbon might do the job, but i really appreciate the kardamom in that whisky...so if you get hand on a bourbon with defined vanilla and kardamom give it a shot! 40ml Whisky 20ml Apricot Brandy 30ml Orange Super Juice 25ml Orgeat
Sorry - but you are wrong with the Mai Tai. First of all, it is based on the saying of the regular guests of Vic Bergeron - why said: which translates to “out of this world - the best”. I don’t want to be too particular about it, but if you are bringing it up - you cannot just say, it means outstanding. What is more important: Vic Bergeron probably kept the recipe for a while secret - but there is an article / interview in the Honolulu times, which cites Vic word by word and explains exactly the recipe of the drink. Now the important part is: The Mai Tai started with an Aged Jamaican rum. It was Wray Nephews 17 years old - and after few years it changed to Wray Nephews 15 years old (the rums were already discontinued, and Trader Vic’s basically purchased up all the stocks which were available, because the drink gained popularity). After the 15 years old ‘has been drained”, Trader Vics (organization - as per my knowledge it hasn’t been documented, if Vic Bergeron has been behind the substitutes) they changed to a dark Jamaican rum and a Rhum Agricole. But a). I do believe, that this has been decades after the original recipes and b) the changes has been for sure also part of a “cost consideration” - as the chain further expanded. Long story short: I do think, that white rum (even though I love Diplomatico Planes - at this point it is the best rum I tried for Mojitos and Daiquiris) and a “dark rum” won’t really do the Mai Tai justice. The Mai Tai is by “default” not really a Tiki drink - it is rather the Trader Vics interpretation of a classic (like a Sour) - and by the way - Vic Bergeron even insisted on a garnish of a cocktail cherry, mint and a pineapple piece (probably some interpretation issues - lead to the widespread error of using pineapple juice in the drink). Even longer story.... The best Mai Tai I have made was with _Cadenhead Long Pond Estate Single Barrel 17 years old_. I guess this rum is also no more longer available - but I googled and found that Plantation took over the torch and makes a 17 years old Long Pond Estate now - but it seems different (Cadenhead was overproof, and surprisingly light colored, exactly how Vic described in in the Honolulu times). I made the Mai Tai with Appleton Estate 21 years old - it was good - but I cannot say it is worth the cost. I made it few years ago with Coruba 18 years old - was great (even though I don’t like the Coruba as sipping rum). Even Bacardi 8 años works pretty well (even though it lacks the funkiness of Jamaica). End of the story: the original idea of Vic was to create a classic which is based on an exceptional product (the rum). It is kinda a bastardization to use 2 rums (even though the practice was started in Trader Vics itself).
I'm too lazy to make orgeat anymore. I buy a premade almond & vanilla syrup, since the Smuggler's Cove recipe calls for vanilla too. As for what rum to use, all of them! Seriously, whenever I buy a new rum, I make a Mai Tai with it.
Hello, a great admirer of yours and your cocktail bar. I would like to know if you can put subtitles in Spanish since I see you from Colombia Thank you very much A big hug🎉
Looks great , im not in the woke debate on tiki . These are cocktails, not symbol of colonialism or other rubbish. I can have problem with some ingredients origin. Deciding to make an Orgeat from cashew really involve human crime .( there is maybe ways to get this nut more respectfully) Do you roast the almond ?
Definitely going to try this out! The classic mai tai is possibly my favorite cocktail. I'll usually do a mix of rums, like white, aged, dark, spiced, usually just whatever I have on hand, but using mostly a good rum in the mix can make it fantastic. I'll sub triple sec if I don't have orange Curacao. I rarely buy orgeat because it's like $15 for a small bottle and not always easy to find. Making it looks like a good way to save some money and make more drinks!
Almonds are trying to kill me I wish they weren't, they seem very tasty the few times I've accidentally eaten, drank, or been exposed in a candy or liqueur
I really like the chestnut cup. 1 oz gin 1 oz lemon juice 1 oz Campari 3/4 oz orgeat Whip shake with crushed ice and serve in a highball with crushed ice Highly crushable in hot weather.
The bar where I started now make the Mai Tai with pineapple juice and keep telling them that's incorrect haha . They'll let me change the menu next month, so all good
Best recipe I've seen. There is a lot online but now I have orgeat with a little too much orange blosson water flavor thanks to this I hope it won't happen again. Orgeat goes well in coffee too
I'm a huge fan of louder rums for a mai tai. Usual go-to is a split of Rhum Agricole (Clement) and an aged Jamaican rum (usually Appleton 12 year). A float of Lemon Hart 151 is a nice touch as well!
I generally trust your recipes when it comes to cocktails. Would you be up for the challenge of making and posting a Macadamia nut orgeat? Cheers, Terry.
I love to combine a regular golden Rum like Havanna Club Especial with a little bit of over proof dark rum. For a nice balance of funky flavours and delicate caramel notes.
Making your own orgeat is a lot of fun. I really enjoy the avocado pit orgeat recipe that Distinguished Spirits did a while back. My preferred Mai Tai run blend is: 1oz Barbadian (Plantataion 5 yr), 0.5oz Jamaican (Smith & Cross), and 0.5oz of Blackstrap. Thanks for the tutorial and I look forward to trying it!
hi i have an issue that my oregat (both almonds and pistachio) curdles with touch of an acid (lime super juice) . i does not look nice in the drink as it is defragmented. i have noticed getting rid of gums (xathan and arabic) stopped the issue (but the syrup is not so thick then). it is hard to belive no one noticed it, Kevin especially, maybe i am doing something wrong in the process ? was just following the video... please help!
Hi! All nut milk curdles with acids so it's same with the most homemade orgeats. I found out that mixing the cocktail brings it back to 'normal'. So you are saying that withput using Xanthan and Gum arabic you don't get the same effect? Or it just doesn't appear so quickly?
@@KevinKos Hi, thank you so much for your answer! yes without gums i dont get this effect at all (or at least did not noticed so maybe it is much less visible). with the gums i see this instantly and it is very visible and even if I shaked well it comes up after some time and looks owful in the cocktail :( i dont know which one of the gums is "resposnsible" as I got rid of both to check quickly if it helps. the syrup was of course less thick without it but visually did not see this curdeling when mixing with citrus.
Another fantastic content champ! I've been searching a good orgeat recipe and this really made it more precise and better. Salute! Hoping to see a Sazerac soon!
just made 2 different Mai Tais with the homemade almond Orgeat thanks to this video. Everything came out excellent. The winning Mai Tai of the night was made with 1.5oz 115 proof Cachaça styled 117 West Spirits rum, .5 oz Jamaican styled Smith + Cross rum, .75 oz orgeat, .5 oz cointreau, .5oz lime juice (this lime was particularly acid so I dialed it down a little). I highly recommend trying a Cachaça styled rum, use with a nice bouquet of mint as a garnish :)
Kevin, after tasting MaiTais at 31 Tiki Bars, my favorite rum combination for MaiTais came from the Golden Tiki: 1.5oz Flor de Cana 7 and .5 oz El Dorado 12 Okole Maluna!
I love that you're taking the time to show a walkthrough of making orgeat from scratch rather than using the popularized techniques with almond milk. I will say that even if I'm using almonds that are commercially roasted, I will toast them in house. Side by side, the freshly toasted almonds definitely give the orgeat a more concentrated and nutty body and profile. The only other difference I'll typically take is blending in a carafe that opens from the top. Back from my days of being a line cook, my PTSD will never let me blend anything hot in a sealed blender. A Vitamix with a kitchen towel over the small opening in the lid is the ideal setup imo, and I'll continue to blend the mixture until it is a thick homogeneous slurry. That's how I'll typically get the best yield. The resulting milked almond solids can be dehydrated and used as a panad for terrines, or sauteed with butter and sugar for a crisp/crumble.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The blending hot mixture in a regular open-top blender would be a better idea for sure! Thank you for bringing that out. Toasting the almonds also is a great way to up the orgeat. Cheers!
Great video as always! I would love to see you put the Cocktail Time spin on the Chestnut Club Cocktail, I am a huge fan of the sweet and bitter notes of this cocktail. Keep yo the great work!
I just picked up some good quality almond milk from the grocery store ( 2 ingredients: almonds and water). For I cup of almond milk I added two cups of sugar, 1 tbsp of almond extract, 1/2 tsp of Orange Blossom water and about 1.5 oz of cognac to help longevity. It turned out amazing, basically a 2:1 ratio almond syrup with a little flavour kick from the cognac and almond extract. It hasn't separated in the fridge and makes a fantastic Mai Tai! I was going to do the whole blanching and blending of almonds but I needed my TIKI drink sooner rather than later so I found this "cheat" recipe and it's a banger! Mai Tai 1 oz Smith and Cross 1 oz Appleton 12 1/2 oz Dry Curacao 1 oz fresh lime 1/2 oz Orgeat 1 bar spoon 2:1 Demerara syrup Shake and strain over crushed ice, garnish with fresh mint and a couple dashes of Angostura bitters on top. Oh gosh I need one now! Cheers!
A classic from Marseille (France) "une mauresque" pastis seasoned with orgeat. 1 part orgeat to 4 to 6 in pastis. BTW how about a Kevin Kos recipe of pastis?
I like you videos, and I wear Hawaiian shirts and have worked at resorts. To insult us and claiming we're not as good as you or others that are " famous " is pretty pathetic. I am continuously learning, and I've been doing this over 28 years. I also don't call myself a mixologist, it's a pretentious term. #cocktailtime
Hey Barry, I'm glad you like the videos, thank you! Sorry if you took offense to that, it was meant to paint a picture of the Dark Ages of Cocktails, where the quality of ingredients and cocktails was not at the top of the priority list. I generalized, which was wrong, sorry about that. It makes me happy to see your passion for learning and serving people right; when that's the case, you're totally right, the shirt does not make the man. Hopefully you're still able to pick up something from my videos that will help you on your journey behind the bar, mixologist or not. Cheers! #friendsofcocktails
@@KevinKos I would like to thank you for replying to my message. I've been bartending since the dark ages, and every time I learn something new. I'm grateful to step into the light, my journey has been a long one. I've even been an instructor, I love sharing my knowledge. I've learned not to judge other bartenders. We all do the same job, we just do it differently. I've always said there is no wrong way to bartend, but lots of ways to improve. Thank you for your time and effort with your videos. Sláinte
Great video as always :) My favourite combination of rums is smith&cross and aged (or unaged) rum agricole (preferably Rhum J.M) As for orgeat cocktails - a recent discovery called Port of Spain (by Dominic Alling) has been one of my cocktails of choice lately. Cheers!
One of my favorites, what do you think about whipshaking cocktails served on crushed ice? Is the result different in your opinion? Great video as always
Nice video. I'm about to try this right now. I wonder what your view is on a 1:1 orgeat vs 2:1. I've seen a lot made with 2:1 and higher. What advantage do you think 1:1 has?
I simply love ‘The Ultimate Mai-Tai’ from Kevin Crossman: 0.5 oz Plantation OFTD, 0.5 oz Plantation Xaymaca, 0.5 oz Smith & Cross Navy Strenght, 0.5 oz Appleton 12, 0.5 oz dry curacao, 0.5 oz orgeat, 0.25 Demerara Syrup and 1 oz of lime. This packs a punch, but is very balanced.
