So…I was having a nice little exchange on Twitter that reminded me…I haven’t written anything about a true classic in this space, the Mai Tai. Now, I know I try to use it to explore either my own or lesser known corners of the world of tropical beverages, but it would not really be a tiki Substack if I never brought this up once, would it?
Anyway, let’s revisit #31DaysOfTiki because I already covered this ground, but not in this format
You cannot make a proper Mai Tai. It’s not because you’re a bad bartender, it’s because the rum that made it famous no longer exists. I’m sorry. You aren’t coming across a 17-year old J. Wray & Nephew. These are just facts. You can’t even find the 15 year-old J Wray & Nephew. So what is a modern tiki aficionado to do?
Well, experimentation is key. Most recipes are going to say to do half and half aged agricole and aged Jamaican rums. Which is certainly not a bad way to go. Looking through what I’ve got, I’m pulling out the Rhum J.M. VSOP for my aged agricole and pulling out my bottle of Smith and Cross for the Jamaican component. This will be strong. You could use other orange liqueurs, but Pierre Ferrand Curacao is so good why would you?. You’ll need some rich (2:1) simple syrup, some Small Hand Foods orgeat, and a lime of course. We’ll get to the bottle of Lemon Hart 151 in a minute.
Build the following in your shaker:
.75 oz lime juice
.25 oz rich simple syrup
.25 oz orgeat
.5 oz curacao
1 oz aged argicole rum
1 oz aged Jamaican rum
Do your thing and put all the ingredients in your mixing tin, but reserve a spent lime shell. You’ll need that in the end. Grab some ice cubes and shake it up. Pull out a nice double rocks glass that you put in your freezer when you started mixing to chill it a bit, strain into that, and top with fresh crushed ice. Grab a mint sprig, and give it a nice clap to release all those lovely mint oils, and garnish. Take that spent lime shell and put it in the beverage too. If you are feeling adventurous float some overproof Demerara rum in it. If you’re feeling really adventurous, light that float on fire. It might not be as originally designed, but we work with the tools we got.
I’ve since tinkered with my rum components a bit and tried a few different things. You can go straight up with 2 oz of Denizen Merchant’s Blend (which Smuggler’s Cover had a hand in making for just this purpose). You can realize you have quite a few more rums and continue to play with that. I’m not pulling out any of the Long Ponds for sipping or anything, but I’m sure they would make a dynamite Mai Tai. Experimentation is key, and while different rums certainly have different characters, the key is to find what you like. So play around. Even a good basic Appleton Estate rum is gonna get you halfway home here.
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something every week or two (if we are being honest), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
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Jane, I love this!! Thank you so much for writing this and all your wonderful tiki stories. Can't wait to try it out!!