The Mai Tai, it was one of my first encounters with real cocktails in my career. Although today when I take a glimpse in my first recipe notebook and look at the old recipe with a bit of shame it is still way better than many other recipes that I saw around my city and on internet (at least mine didn't had any blue curacao or powders in it).
It seems it first appeared at Trader Vic's, in Oakland, California in 1944, but other sources claim that it was in fact Don the Beachcomber that first came up with the recipe. According to Dale DeGroff's The Essential Cocktail there are rumors that Phoebe, Donn's last wife, has a letter in which Victor Bergeron is confessing that the Mai Tai was in fact invented by Donn at his establishment.
Anyway, although Donn might have invented the drink it was Trader Vic who popularized it. He was using Wray and Nephew 17 yo, until he depleted it, or so is being said. Yet after a global inventory one of this bottles (one of the six remained) got on Sean Muldoon's hands, the current owner (or co-owner) of Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog. When Sean received the pricey bottle he was working for The Merchant Hotel in Belfast and he received numerous awards as well as the world record for the most expensive drink at that time.

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Foto: Urbanfever.ro


Mai Tai:

Rum 1 oz
Dark rum 1 oz
Orange liqueur 1/2 oz
Orgeat 1/2 oz
Fresh squeezed lime juice 3/4 oz
Sugar syrup 1/4 oz

  • Old fashioned
  • Shake Strain
  • Tropical fruit and orchid
Wonderful drink this is, all that toffee action from the rum, nuttiness, citrusy, it's fully packed and it doesn't require a ton of bullshit. There isn't even need of that sugar syrup, but I like my drinks a bit on the sweeter side and if I would increase the orgeat it would have turned too nutty and would overwhelm the rest of ingredients. Even one quarter of an ounce of orgeat will throw the drink off it's delicate balance, this is the level of perfection this drink has reached.
Regarding the orchid I can only say go ahead. Yes I know it is pricey and highly perishable, but it's worth it and when it comes to Tiki nothing can beat the fruit salad kind of garnish.

Now heads up fellas cause Simone will show us how to make a proper Mai Tai.



References: Dale DeGroff - The Essential Cocktail
Salvadore Calabrese - Classic Cocktails
Home Bar Basics
Wikipedia