Mahi Mah’s mixes up 82 mostly original cocktails

They shook. They smashed. They sipped here and there.

Following weeks of research and development, the bar crew at Mahi Mah's recently revealed a new cocktail list, handsomely bound and featuring some of the most inventive sippers around.

Consider, for example, the Old Fashioned Root Beer, a $10 combo of Three Olives root beer vodka and Red Bull cola, that stuff with a blast of B vitamins said to clear the head. Or how about a Naga Sake for $7, a polite blend of sake ( rice wine), pomegranate liqueur and cranberry juice shaken and served over ice.

The list of 82 cocktails honors two current cocktail trends: the return of the classics and liberal use of fruit and herbs that have been muddled - that's manually squished - in the glass.

Mahi Mah's is the restaurant and bar on the ground floor of the Ramada Inn on the Beach near Rudee Inlet. The bar - with open-air patio seating, ceiling fans and lots of wood - is a favorite of locals and tourists alike.

We ducked in, parched and sunburned, on a recent afternoon seeking refreshment, but trying to choose one libation from the long list had us feeling flummoxed.

Bartender Jonah Barnett came to the rescue. We flipped past the Mah-Tini List, checked out the frozen drinks and paused at the tropical coolers section. Barnett suggested the Smashing Grapes, ($8) a combination of Skyy grape vodka, triple sec, sweet and sour mix and Sprite. But we pressed on, stopping at the section on smashed and muddled drinks. There we settled on the Granny Apple Cucumber Smash ($11).

It's more involved than your garden variety highball, so it takes a bit longer to make. But in not too long a time, Barnett twirled a napkin across the bar and placed upon it a tumbler filled with a light green elixir, garnished with wheels of Granny Smith apple and cucumber with a plastic blue marlin gliding across the top.

The backbone of the drink is grated ginger root muddled with unpeeled apples and cucumbers. Finlandia grapefruit vodka, Sprite, seltzer and a dash of cinnamon go in the glass, a light shake and it's done. The result is a cocktail with layers of flavors and a bit of a crunch, a showcase for the latest cocktail trends.

The R&D for Mahi Mah's new list started with Assistant Food and Beverage Manager J. David Edwards quizzing distributors and cruising the Internet for the hottest brands. The 12-member bar staff sampl ed drinks at other local establishments. Then, led by bartender and mixologist Anthony Go, they got behind the bar and started imagineering drinks.

The new list will stay on the bar from six months to a year, when they'll go at it again.

Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697, lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com