Did I want to be tied to a pole in the middle of a jungle with a giant pot of water coming to a boil … oh yeah, and I’m going to be thrown in it.  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  But when Victor Bergeron, otherwise known as Trader Vic, tasks you with finding the last ingredient in what would become his world famous Mai Tai you do it!  As always I was in the darkest jungle depths of a tropical island in search of this certain tribe known for their delicious mixers.  Trader Vic needed a little bit of flavor to round out his drink and I was sure this was the place to find it.

As I strolled into the Quiet Village I declared in a friendly manner that it would be a great honor for me to peruse the many tinctures and essences they had to offer and that their village was legendary for having this abundance.  And though it had been many years since I was last in this place I was quite sure everything would be as it had always been … that is where I was wrong.  It appears that over time certain factions in the Village began to coalesce around certain mixers and as more people flocked to the popularity of one mixer or another the less popular ones began to disappear.  Apparently this resulted in there being only two mixers left … Blue Curacao and Red Grenadine … and the villagers seemed to do nothing but fight about which one was best.  The blue side would say things like “our mixer is best because it is made through the sweat and labor of the common people and is shared equally by all”.  The red side might retort with “our syrup is best because it is made with exclusive ingredients and can only be had by those with the means to possess it.”  Oh boy!  What have I got myself into?

You see, everybody knows that both Blue Curacao and Red Grenadine are terrible mixers and should never be used in a respectable cocktail but these people had become so enamored with fighting each other, they lost sight of the fact that the things they were fighting for made drinks worse.  As you can guess it was my resistance to using these ingredients that got me tied to the pole, soon to be served as the main course in some kind of bad cocktail native dinner party.  I had to think fast!

From the corner of my eye I noticed a pile of discarded and forgotten drink ingredients behind the Chief’s hut.  I offered up a challenge to the angry throng … Let’s make three Mai Tai’s, one with Blue Curacao, one with Red Grenadine, and one with a random bottle selected from the throw away pile.  If after trying all three you don’t agree my drink is best then back in the pot with me.  But if you prefer mine, then I get to leave with this ingredient and my life.

The challenge was accepted. A youngster pulled a bottle out and brought it over and the drink mixing began.  I don’t need to give you the details of what happened because you already know.  People should never be limited to accepting the best of two bad choices because in the end, you still get a bad choice.  Only when provided with good options are you able to see that you don’t have to choose bad.  In this case, if your only choice was red or blue the drink would have been better by not choosing at all!  Luckily there was a good choice and that was Dry Curacao.  I could return to Trader Vic with the ingredient he needed to make the Tiki World’s most famous cocktail!