TIKI CULTURE

The Jet Pilot - Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail!

Jet Pilot at The Mai-Kai

It may be hard to believe, but I had my first Jet Pilot cocktail at the Mai Kai last week. Lemme tell ya, that is one strong drink. Even the Matre ‘d thought I was crazy. But it’s a good one, no doubt about it kids.

There are a lot of screwed-up versions of this original Tiki Bar drink out there, using odd stuff like Bacardi Limon (yeah, that’s real authentic), but I found Beach Bum Berry’s recipe which is probably as close to (or exactly like) the original drink concocted by Don Beach 60+ years ago, during the heyday of jets and Tiki bars…

•    1/2 oz lime juice
•    1/2 oz grapefruit juice
•    1/2 oz cinnamon syrup
•    1/2 oz falernum (make your own falernum)
•    1 dash Angostura bitters
•    1 oz dark Jamaican rum
•    3/4 oz gold Puerto Rican rum
•    3/4 oz 151-Proof Lemon Hart Demerara Rum
•    6 drops Pernod
•    4 oz crushed ice
Throw everything into a blender, adding crushed ice last, and blend at high speed for five seconds. Pour into an old-fashioned glass. The Mai-Kai garnishes with a chunk of fresh pineapple speared on a sword. Works for me.

It’s stuff like”Pernod” and “Falernum” that makes a Tiki Lounge drink a Tiki Lounge drink. Most people don’t even know what that stuff is, and most bars won’t bother to carry it. But I guarantee you, making this drink yourself is well worth the effort. Mix it up, take a swing and TAKE OFF! (insert vintage jet-plane sound hear)

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the garden terrace at The Mai-Kai, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

JUST ADDED:

One of my Twitter friends sent me this groovy recipe for Falernum. You can buy it, but it’s more fun and will taste a lot better if you make it yourself. Visit the Post Prohibition website for the recipe.