{"id":2750,"date":"2012-02-07T13:50:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T18:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.slammie.com\/atomicgrog\/blog\/?p=2750"},"modified":"2024-06-16T21:56:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T01:56:36","slug":"mai-kai-cocktail-review-jet-pilot-soars-over-its-ancestors-with-flying-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slammie.com\/atomicgrog\/blog\/2012\/02\/07\/mai-kai-cocktail-review-jet-pilot-soars-over-its-ancestors-with-flying-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Mai-Kai cocktail review: Jet Pilot soars over its ancestors with flying colors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated September 2020<\/em>
\nSee below:<\/b> Our Jet Pilot review<\/a> | Ancestor recipes<\/a>
\nTribute recipes<\/a> | Social media tributes <\/a>
\nRelated: <\/strong> The Atomic Grog makes a Jet Pilot on The Tiki Trail Live<\/a>
\nMai-Kai cocktail guide<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Test<\/a><\/p>\n

Tiki bar pioneer Don the Beachcomber’s Test Pilot was one of the most copied drinks during the mid-century heyday of Polynesian cocktails. It morphed into the Ace Pilot, Space Pilot and Astronaut, among others. At The Mai-Kai, it became the Jet Pilot.<\/p>\n

As discussed in the review of the vintage S.O.S.<\/a> (Don the Beachcomber’s Three Dots and a Dash), Donn Beach was a decorated World War II veteran and always had a deep connection to the armed forces. In his honor, a B-26 Marauder was painted with a replica of the Don the Beachcomber driftwood sign on its nose. The plane and crew flew many successful missions in the Pacific.<\/p>\n

The Test Pilot is also an interesting study in how Donn Beach constantly tweaked his drinks. A Don the Beachcomber<\/a> cocktail from the 1930s or ’40s could be vastly different than one with the same name in the 1950s or ’60s.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Jet Pilot features four rums, including Lemon Hart 151, and may be The Mai-Kai’s strongest of the strong. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, January 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Included below is a Test Pilot recipe unearthed by cocktail sleuth and author Jeff “Beachbum” Berry<\/a> from the 1940s. It’s one of the most popular in the Tiki revival, and it features many of the same ingredients as The Mai-Kai’s Jet Pilot. We’ve also listed a later recipe from a book by Donn Beach’s widow, Phoebe. It’s slightly different but also very strong and has a similar flavor profile. Other popular old-school versions include the Jet Pilot served at Steve Crane’s The Luau chain in the 1950s (revealed by Beachbum Berry in Sippin’ Safari<\/em> in 2007) and the Space Pilot, still served today at the Tiki Ti<\/a> in Los Angeles (est. 1961).<\/p>\n

In Minimalist Tiki<\/a> by Cocktail Wonk blogger Matt Pietrek, a 2020 Spirited Award nominee for Best New Cocktail or Bartending Book, the Test Pilot and Jet Pilot are both listed among the “Classic 30” cocktails<\/a> from the first golden era of tropical mixology.<\/p>\n

Like Tiki Ti owner Ray Buhen<\/a>, The Mai-Kai’s original mixologist, Mariano Licudine<\/a>, worked for Donn Beach in the early days. In 1956, he was lured from the Don the Beachcomber restaurant in Chicago to design The Mai-Kai’s original tropical drink menu. So it’s likely he had a vast knowledge of multiple versions of the Test Pilot when he created arguably one of the best, The Mai-Kai’s high-octane Jet Pilot. <\/a><\/p>\n

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The official menu description<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Jet<\/a>
\nJET PILOT<\/b>
\nFast and courageous, a vigorous blend of heavy bodied rums and zesty juices.<\/p>\n

Okole Maluna Society review and rating<\/b><\/p>\n

Size:<\/b> Medium<\/p>\n

\"Jet<\/a>
Jet Pilot (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, September, 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Potency:<\/b> Strong<\/p>\n

Flavor profile:<\/b> Dark and powerful rums, spicy and bitter notes with a hint of exotic sweetness.<\/p>\n

Review:<\/b> Very complex and intense. Not for the timid. Sweet, spicy and strong all at the same time.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/b> 4 out of 5 stars (see how it ranks)<\/a><\/p>\n

Ancestry:<\/b> The Jet Pilot dates back to The Mai-Kai’s original 1956 menu and is based on Don the Beachcomber’s Test Pilot.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bilge:<\/b> After the vintage recipes were published in Beachbum Berry’s books<\/a>, the Test Pilot and Jet Pilot immediately caught the fancy of influential Tiki, rum and cocktail bloggers including Paul Clarke<\/a> and Frederic Yarm.<\/a> They then began showing up on menus at the new breed of Tiki bars popping up across the country. Since opening in 2012, Hale Pele<\/a> in Portland has featured a version inspired by The Mai-Kai’s Jet Pilot. Others inspired by The Luau version appeared at Forbidden Island<\/a> (Alameda, Calif.), Lost Lake<\/a> (Chicago), Three Dots and a Dash<\/a> (Chicago), UnderTow<\/a> (Phoenix), VenTiki<\/a> (Ventura, Calif.), Last Rites<\/a> (San Francisco), and False Idol<\/a> (San Digo), among many others. The drink also makes an appearance at the modern mecca of Tiki cocktails, Smuggler’s Cove<\/a> in San Francisco. Bar owner and rum\/Tiki authority Martin Cate<\/a> included his version of Berry’s take on The Luau recipe in his award-winning book, Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum and the Cult of Tiki<\/em><\/a> | [See photo]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Agree or disagree? Share your reviews and comments below!<\/a><\/b>
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ANCESTOR RECIPES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Test Pilot<\/strong>
\n(By Don the Beachcomber, circa 1941, from Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log<\/i> and Remixed<\/i><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Two versions of the Test Pilot by The Atomic Grog. Glassware by Tiki Kiliki. (Photo by Hurricane Hayward, January 2012)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n