Let's re-visit the Mai Tai, shall we?

[JohnS]

If you like rum with your cigars, and let's face it many of you do, then consider the Mai Tai cocktail as a perfect compliment to a Cuban cigar. However, before you do...a little background to the cocktail to save the heartache of not adding any pineapple products to it, or dare I mention juice!

To quote Matt Pietrek from his Distiller Blog...

Of all the drinks in the Tiki canon, the Mai Tai is the most classic—and the most abused. First of all, there is no pineapple juice in a Mai Tai! Nor is it Day-Glo orange with a lake of overproof rum floating on top. Too many resort bartenders have hatched abominations of this cocktail, often resulting in a syrupy, undrinkable mess. Yet when made properly, the Mai Tai is a well-balanced masterpiece from the heart of the golden age of Tiki. In fact, it’s widely considered by many aficionados to be the consummate Tiki recipe – relatively simple (by Tiki recipe standards) yet truly timeless.

Let’s talk about what a Mai Tai is and, almost as importantly, what it ISN’T.

The Mai Tai sprung to life in 1944, not in Polynesia, but in Oakland, California – the masterpiece of Victor Bergeron, better known as Trader Vic. As the story goes, a guest took a first sip and exclaimed “Maita’i roa ae!”, which is Tahitian for “The very best!” or “Out of this world!” In the drink’s original incarnation, Trader Vic used Wray & Nephew 17-year aged rum from Jamaica. The Mai Tai became so popular in those postwar years that, in short order, almost all of the world’s supply of Wray & Nephew 17 had been consumed happily through a million cocktail straws. So powerful is the lure of an “original” Mai Tai that the world’s few remaining bottles of Wray & Nephew 17 have been sold at auction in the $50,000 range for one bottle – it remains the Holy Grail for rum enthusiasts.

With all the Wray & Nephew gone, Vic switched to a more pragmatic rum formulation – a blend of aged dark Jamaican rum and aged Martinique rhum. Recently, Tiki enthusiasts have tossed around the question of whether the Martinique rhum used by Trader Vic was an agricole (made from fresh sugarcane juice) or a molasses-derived spirit. Nonetheless, Tiki experts agree that a mix of aged Jamaican and Martinique agricole make for a delicious cocktail.

Source: https://blog.distiller.com/original-1944-mai-tai-recipe/

Sound easy? It actually is. If you can't get your hands on a Martinique sweet rum go for a Demerara Rum like El Dorado. I use Appleton Estate Jamaican Reserve Blend and El Dorado 12 Demerara Rhum in my Mai Tais. The recipe I use is below...

• 3 cl or 1 oz amber Jamaican rum (I use Appleton Estate Reserve Blend)
• 3 cl  or 1 oz Martinique molasses rum (I use El Dorado 12 Demerara rhum)
• 1.5 cl or 1/2 oz orange curaçao
• 1.5 cl  or 1/2 oz orgeat syrup
• 3 cl  or 1 oz fresh lime juice
• .75 cl  or 1/4 oz simple syrup

Here is the procedure I follow. Firstly gather all your ingredients...

Crush 1 cup (250 ml) of ice and put into an old-fashioned glass or similar...

Fill up your Cocktail Shaker with ice. Normally I use a Boston Shaker and a strainer to strain out the ice into my cocktails. You don't need to do that in this drink so using a Cobbler shaker is fine.

Add all your ingredients and shake. If you don't have Orange Curacao you can substitute it for a triple sec or Cointreau, but that orange colouring is highly desirable for the drink. The sugar syrup I use is a simple recipe of 1 cup water and 1 cup white sugar brought to the boil, cooled and stored in the fridge. Also, remember that Orgeat syrup, which is an almond-flavoured syrup, has a shelf life and should go in the refrigerator after opening. Add some mint and a lime wheel for garnishing. (I skimp on the lime wheel, but the mint is helpful for the drink) Enjoy!

 

 

[BrightonCorgi]

Big Mai Tai fan!