Podcast appearances and mentions of vic bergeron

We think we all know the legend of the Odyssey after reading Homer. Today we meet a modern day Odysseus whose journey from the Philippines took a different turn and landed him in the world of Mai Tais, Pineapple and Bamboo.   On today’s podcast, we discover how our Odysseus was anointed with the moniker Tiki Man! Holding court at Trader Vic’s at the London Hilton Park Lane for almost a decade could be the reason. Cocktail trends have come and gone, but Vic Bergeron’s (the founder of Trader Vic’s) concept of finding a Polynesian paradise, wherever you are in the world, has never waned. Trader Vic’s in London celebrated its 53rd birthday this year and it’s still going strong. Odysseus clues us into the how and why the Mai Tai is still its number one order! Watch Odysseus rustles up an original 1944 Mai Tai for my Mixology in a Minute Series on Youtube There is one ballroom in Paris that cannot be missed - the one in the Intercontinental Le Grand. While you’re there gazing at the 19th Century masterpiece, make sure to have a very 21st century cocktail in their bar. On the next podcast, we hear how Bar Manager Soizic Le Mercier has gone from Brittany to the city of lights. Thanks for listening to Best Sips Worldwide, a spin-off of Best Bits Worldwide. For more information and links to everything that piqued your interest on the podcast, plus a bit more, please visit Best Bits Worldwide.com. Follow me on Twitter at @BestBitsWorld.  My theme music is by Steven Shapiro and used with permission. Best Sips is produced by Evo Terra. Always remember the wise words of Oscar Wilde, “All things in moderation, including moderation” and never drink and drive! (ok, I said that last part.)

Learn the origins of tiki bars and get the recipe for a delicious mai tai.Tiki cocktails are hand-crafted beverages that can be found in kitschy bars across the United States.The vets who were coming back from the Pacific Theater after World War II would stop in Hawaii on their way to the mainland. Don the Beachcomber decided to open a bar that would appeal to these vets. He used lots of rum, because it was the cheapest alcohol available after Prohibition.Rum is the most versatile spirit in the world, because there are no rules for creating it. It's distilled sugar. It can be made from sugar cane or molasses.There are different kinds of rums to consider when crafting your own tiki cocktail. A light rum is unaged, right out of the still and watered down. (All liquor is watered down to reach the proof listed on the bottle.) Aged rum or dark rum gets color and flavor from the barrels it's aged in, similar to wine and whiskey. Spiced rum came about by adding flavor to dull rum. Now, distillers are creating spiced rum on purpose.Any craft cocktail requires the jigger. You need to measure all the ingredients like a chef. Tiki drinks are layered drinks.The mai tai was invented in 1941 by Vic Bergeron of Trader Vic's in Oakland, California. “Mai tai” is Tahitian for "the very best.” It's not an overly sweet drink, much like a mojito. RECIPE: juice of one lime, about an ounce one ounce of Martinique rum (floral flavor) one ounce of Jamaican rum 1/2 ounce of orange curaçao 1/2 ounce of orgeat syrup 1/4 ounce simple syrup Mix in shaker. Pour over crushed ice. Smack a mint sprig and use as garnish.If you're visiting a tiki bar for the first time, start with the mai tai. That tells you what rums they're using and how they make their drinks. If the mai tai is too sweet, the rest of the drinks may follow suit.Listen in as mixologist Dr. Shocker joins Dr. Mike to talk tiki cocktails.

Learn the origins of tiki bars and get the recipe for a delicious mai tai.Tiki cocktails are hand-crafted beverages that can be found in kitschy bars across the United States.The vets who were coming back from the Pacific Theater after World War II would stop in Hawaii on their way to the mainland. Don the Beachcomber decided to open a bar that would appeal to these vets. He used lots of rum, because it was the cheapest alcohol available after Prohibition.Rum is the most versatile spirit in the world, because there are no rules for creating it. It’s distilled sugar. It can be made from sugar cane or molasses.There are different kinds of rums to consider when crafting your own tiki cocktail. A light rum is unaged, right out of the still and watered down. (All liquor is watered down to reach the proof listed on the bottle.) Aged rum or dark rum gets color and flavor from the barrels it’s aged in, similar to wine and whiskey. Spiced rum came about by adding flavor to dull rum. Now, distillers are creating spiced rum on purpose.Any craft cocktail requires the jigger. You need to measure all the ingredients like a chef. Tiki drinks are layered drinks.The mai tai was invented in 1941 by Vic Bergeron of Trader Vic’s in Oakland, California. “Mai tai” is Tahitian for "the very best.” It’s not an overly sweet drink, much like a mojito. RECIPE: juice of one lime, about an ounce one ounce of Martinique rum (floral flavor) one ounce of Jamaican rum 1/2 ounce of orange curaçao 1/2 ounce of orgeat syrup 1/4 ounce simple syrup Mix in shaker. Pour over crushed ice. Smack a mint sprig and use as garnish.If you’re visiting a tiki bar for the first time, start with the mai tai. That tells you what rums they’re using and how they make their drinks. If the mai tai is too sweet, the rest of the drinks may follow suit.Listen in as mixologist Dr. Shocker joins Dr. Mike to talk tiki cocktails.

I like a cocktail that tells you what it does for you. The Fogcutter lets you know right away, that this drink is going to clear away the cobwebs. How many cocktails can boast that it can make you less foggy? In this episode we take a look at this tropical drink that brings in the titans of tiki, Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber. This mid-20th century cocktail is generally attributed to Vic Bergeron, but saw a good deal of variation on the ingredients as different bartenders gave it their own touch. While tiki drinks might be late in the cocktail game, fogcutters actually go back to around the 1700s. So join us as we go back to a time when booze was your breakfast and your medicine.

Episode #44 features a popular personality from the cocktail era: Mr. PT Barnum. The name of the cocktail refers to Barnum's supposed famous saying that a "sucker is born every minute." But even as we look into this cocktail we can't verify much of anything and even the attribution of that phrase seems off. Given that Barnum was a temperance speaker from 1850 to his death, an attribution from him directly seems unlikely. We doubt he was making cocktails or ordering cocktails for himself or anyone else. Strangely enough, Jerry Thomas, the bartender who first published his recipes in 1862, owned a saloon beneath Barnum's American Museum on Broadway in New York and it seems that they did in fact know each other, but Thomas doesn't have the cocktail in his book which seems unlikely if he was the original creator. The first place Jay does find the Barnum Was Right Cocktail is in Trader Vic's cocktail book, published much later than would be expected from a cocktail bearing Barnum's name. Because of its nonexistence, even by mention, prior, Jay considers Vic Bergeron as the creator of this cocktail. Now lack of evidence isn't proof of what is actually the case...if anyone knows the origin story to this cocktail better and can point to evidence, we'd love to know it and amend the discussion. Getting into the conversation of the name of the drink, it appears even that is up for debate. There is no place where we can find "a sucker is born every minute" as being spoken by PT Barnum. In fact, many people suggest that Barnum's big top competitors at the time told people Barnum said it to discredit him. But even if that were the case or Barnum had said it, the concept goes much further back historically, so it's not an original idea, having Barnum say it just made it sound better, as was the case with everything he did. Here’s the recipe: 2 Ounces gin 1 Ounce apricot-flavored brandy 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice 2 dashes Angostura Bitters This cocktail was more or less fine. It didn't offend, it didn't impress. It merely existed. We all had it and we enjoyed it for what it was, but it comes from the classic style of gin, bitters, and one other ingredient that sets it apart from a Tom Collins or many other drinks we've had. It was excellent to try, but for my money, the story here was the best part.