 |
Vic's ORIGINAL mai tai now available **incl. 17-year-old WRAY & NEPHEW!** |
rupe33
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 08, 2004
Posts: 316
From: DC Metro Area (MD)
|  Posted: 2007-02-06 12:01 pm Permalink
It can be yours for only....$1500! A hotel in Belfast has put this on the menu, at a price currently tagged as "The Most Expensive Cocktail in the World."
Wayne Curtis has the story here at his blog:
http://republicofrum.blogspot.com/2007/02/original-mai-tai-at-price.html
It's really interesting to note that there's been a new run of Wray & Nephew Reserve. Also - if you've not read Wayne's book "AND A BOTTLE OF RUM..." then you're missing out. Terrific read!
Cheers,
Rupe
_________________
"I had never enjoyed a drink so much, or needed it so badly."
--Thor Heyerdahl, in 'Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island'
|
PremEx
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 23, 2006
Posts: 271
From: Houston, Texas
| Posted: 2007-02-06 2:00 pm Permalink
Thanks for posting that. Gee...'ya think you get to keep the glass? 
In case you miss the tiny link at the bottom of that blog...here's the URL of the newspaper story:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2241977.ece#
|
tikigap
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jan 19, 2006
Posts: 834
From: Arlingtron Virginia
| Posted: 2007-02-06 2:57 pm Permalink
Hears another earlier link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/18/ireland.cocktail/index.html
Hi Rupe!
_________________
|
cheekytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 1088
From: The Haole Hut, London, UK
| Posted: 2007-02-07 02:04 am Permalink
Quote:
|
It's really interesting to note that there's been a new run of Wray & Nephew Reserve.
|
|
This is not a new run, there were only 6 bottles available which came from the original batch made for Trader Vic, the Rums actual name being "Trader Vics Personal Selection".
1 bottle Sits at Merchant Hotel, Bar Gurus Ben Reid and Angus Winchester have one each (both Gone)and James Robinson from Appleton had one.
Another was decanted into smaller amounts of which we had one, Joy Spence gave another to Trader Vics here in London that sits in their display cabinet, TikiDrone had another that he won at the first London Luau and had made into Mai Tais last year at Trailer Happiness and the rest is at the Wray and Nephew offices.
The other belongs to another Bartender that I can't remember.
The word is that no more will be available, even though as far as I know there is more in the barrel the bottles came from.
So basically, out of the original 6 bottles, only about a bottle remains in all as two business men apparently celebrated a deal with 2 Mai Tais at the Merchant hotel according to my sources.
_________________
www.cheekytiki.com
http://cheekytikiuk.blogspot.com/
"Don't drink water, fish f*~k in it" W.C. Feilds
|
GentleHangman
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: Jun 23, 2006
Posts: 350
From: Stuart, Florida
| Posted: 2007-02-07 06:50 am Permalink
I'm going to raise my hand and put on my Dunce Cap for this one:
Can anyone tell me why this rum was discontinued? Seems to me it would be more popular now than back in the 40's & 50's. Certainly, there has been plenty of time (over 40 years now) to get up batches of this "Trader Vics Personal Selection" for the future and beyond. Doesn't Appleton Estates have the original blending formula? Huh? Huh?
_________________
I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.
GENT
|
Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2007-02-07 08:07 am Permalink
It probably is just a matter of will. Getting one barrel of 17 year old rum likely requires aging 4+ barrels of the best rum you make. Each year, your barrel of rum will diminish as it ages. So, after a few years, you end up taking two barrels to make one barrel and so on. Imagine the sort of work it takes to age a rum 17 years... It's just hard to do.
_________________
Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!
|
virani
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1434
From: Volcanic area of France
| Posted: 2007-02-07 09:34 am Permalink
so I thought the most expensive cocktail was at the Hemingway bar at the Ritz in Paris for 400 euros (a sidecar with very old cognac).
They have the Guinness book of record authenticity frame. I went there monday, it's the best place for cocktails in Paris (also the most expensive place for cocktails I ever went to, regular prices are 24 euros...)
_________________
|
virani
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1434
From: Volcanic area of France
| Posted: 2007-02-07 09:36 am Permalink
And a bottle of rum... is an excellent reading. I loved it, you're right.
|
cheekytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 1088
From: The Haole Hut, London, UK
| Posted: 2007-02-07 10:02 am Permalink
Quote:
|
On 2007-02-07 06:50, GentleHangman wrote:
Can anyone tell me why this rum was discontinued?
|
|
It was discontinued because Trader Vic found another supplier.
The Appleton Estate does have all the Blending info still stored away and could reproduce the same rum again, although you would have to wait 17 years.
The other problem is they also only produce blends for people under very special circumstances, Chris Blackwell founder of Island Records and owner of some of the finest Houses(Goldeneye) on Jamaica is one.
|
GentleHangman
Grand Member (4 years)
Joined: Jun 23, 2006
Posts: 350
From: Stuart, Florida
| Posted: 2007-02-07 10:42 am Permalink
Isn't Saint James' Hors D'Age rum a blend of 'Very Old Rums' ? They seem to manage quite nicely.
_________________
I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.
GENT
|
frostiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 14, 2006
Posts: 434
From: Mobile, AL
| Posted: 2007-02-07 11:35 am Permalink
I think I remember being told what happens a lot of times is that companies top end blends are made from one barrel of their normal high end bottles that they sell and then they add a cup (I'm sure it's more that a cup, but you get the point) of their reserve to that and sell it as the exclusive small batch reserve blend. It's kind of like the Kiss Comic Book that was printed with their blood.
_________________
find us at Facebook andwww.frostiki.com
|
GentleHangman
Grand Member (4 years)
Joined: Jun 23, 2006
Posts: 350
From: Stuart, Florida
| Posted: 2007-02-07 5:35 pm Permalink
I'm just saying . . . it's been 40-50 years . . . . one would think that if the "Trader Vics Personal Selection" had really been that popular. . . there should be a pretty good stock by now especially with all the 'Mai Tai' publicity through the years. I'd read that TV stopped using the Wray & Nephew because supply was short - well, to my way of thinking they've had plenty of time to catch up! Appleton makes a 21 year old rum, don't they? So.....
_________________
I bet you feel more like you do now now than you did when you came in.
GENT
|
PremEx
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 23, 2006
Posts: 271
From: Houston, Texas
| Posted: 2007-02-07 6:05 pm Permalink
Quote:
| ...only about a bottle remains in all as two business men apparently celebrated a deal with 2 Mai Tais at the Merchant hotel according to my sources. |
|
Make that 3 now.
From the Feb 6th Belfast Telegraph news story in the link in my post above:
Quote:
| To date only two of the cocktails have been sold, although a third was made yesterday to commemorate its entry into the record books. |
|
|
cheekytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 1088
From: The Haole Hut, London, UK
| Posted: 2007-02-08 01:33 am Permalink
I don't know if 17YOs original strength was the same as the what is around now, or whether it has aged more and strengthened, but it is 76% proof which makes for an extremely stong drink if used on its own. Although the taste is something else, it couldn't be said it is an easy going rum. Maybe this could be part of the reason for change, to make it more palatable.
Also if it was made again it , like 21YO, would be fairly expensive and be better off drank as a sipping rum.
|
Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4806
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2007-02-14 06:12 am Permalink
I came across this, regarding a 15 year old rum:
"Interestingly, at the end of 15 years of aging in wood, only about 7% of the original rum remains in the barrel, the balance will have evaporated into the air. Thus it took the equivalent of about 16 bottles of rum to produce this single bottle of 15 year old Pusser’s !"
17 year old is even more obviously
_________________
Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!
|
