Shame on me, but I need a bottled mix or two

[Adcurium]

I'm usually the first guy that'll rag on a bartender or host for not using fresh ingredients. But, my wife is thoriwing a Tiki party in a few weeks and, as always, I'm in charge of booze and cigars. We expect quite a few people and I don't want to be too burdened by making tropical drinks that will take 10 minutes each (and I'm building a tiki bar in the back yard and won't have a sink to be rinsing shakers, etc.). So, I want to have some of those mixes where one just adds booze and.... +++POOF!++++ it's a pina colada. So, what brands and mixers are available? What's best?

 

[KittyT]

So, I want to have some of those mixes where one just adds booze and.... +++POOF!++++ it's a pina colada. So, what brands and mixers are available? What's best?

It's soooo easy to make pina coladas without a mix. Pineapple juice + rum + cream of coconut. For something like that, it'd be way easier to just mix on the spot or better yet, make the mix before hand and pour it into a pitcher. Cheaper, also.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

One possibility would be to premix the cocktails and bottle them yourself. Also a tiki punch or two with a chunk of ice in the middle would go a long way.

 

[Mav]

I'm with Kitty- make mixes ahead of time. I'm not a tiki party kinda guy, but I pre- make Bloody Mary mix, mojitos, and various others before a party all the time. Usually cheaper than buying mixers, as well.

 

[CherryWry]

The Chinese restaurant the husband and I frequent mixes their Mai Tais in gallon containers every evening. It takes the owner 10 minutes to make them up, but then they're set for the rest of the night. And it's tasty, tasty stuff.

You'll get much better quality if you pre-mix them yourself. Plus the joy of getting to drink any leftovers.

 

[Rock31]

At my last party there were 90+ guests, I used the Malibu Pina Colada mix and everyone enjoyed it. Definitely not my first choice but there were just too many people for me.

TGI Friday's I think has a mudslide mix and a few others available at most liquor stores and Christmas tree shop carries a bunch of them...my wife and her friends drink them often in the summer so I assume they are not that bad. (I personally never tried them though)

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Adcurium]

Well...

Thanks everyone. I think what I'll do is premix a few drinks ahead of time, maybe in gallon containers. Then if people are just looking for rum and pineapple, rum and coke, etc. I can just mix those two or three ingredient drinks right there on the spot. This weekend I plan on throwing some pina colada's together in the blender, putting them in a pitcher, sticking them in the freezer then seeing how they serve. If frozen pina coladas isn't an option, I'll just make em on the rocks.

Earlier this summer I had a torrid affair with the 20th Century Blues Cocktail (I found the recipe here on FL). I was mixing soo many that I finally broke down and made them by the half gallon and gallon. It was great having them on hand like that. I would mix them on the weekend and all week, once our daughter went to bed, we were able to hit the deck with drink in hand in about 5 minutes. The summer is too short to waste time.

 

[Chanfan]

I think you've made the right decision. Unless you plan on stocking up very extensively, and working the whole night, I'd say you should settle on one to three specialty drinks that match your theme, and pre-mix as much as possible.