The Original Mai Tai

This recipe is the real deal, tracing back to Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron Jr. in the 1930s. It comes to us via Martin Cate, owner of Smuggler's Cove in San Francisco.

Vic created his Mai Tai to showcase a 17-year-old rum imported by J. Wray & Nephew. "The flavor of this great rum wasn't meant to be overpowered with heavy additions of fruit juices and flavorings," warned the Trader. A proper Mai Tai has a deep amber hue, because it's the liquor that should dominate the drink, not the sweeteners. Unfortunately, 17-year-old J. Wray & Nephew rum is a thing of the past. But by replacing it with an aged Martinique rum mixed with a premium Jamaican rum, we can approximate Vic's original goal of "creating a drink that would be the finest drink we could make, using the finest ingredients we could find." (Beach Bum Berry)

According to Vic himself, here is how a mai tai is made:

"I took down a bottle of 17-year old Jamaican J. Wray Nephew rum, added fresh lime, some Orange Curacao from Holland, a dash of Rock Candy syrup, and a dollop of French Orgeat, for its subtle flavor. A generous amount of shaved ice and vigorous shaking by hand produced the marriage I was after.

Half the lime shell went in for color … I stuck in a branch of fresh mint and gave two of them to Ham and Carrie Guild, friends from Taihiti, who were there that night. Carrie took on sip and said, "Mai Tai – Roa Ae". In Tahitian this means "Out of this World – The Best". Well, that was that. I named the drink "Mai Tai"."

Trader Vic’s does not use umbrellas. The Trader didn’t like them, and they were never in his Mai Tais. The Mai Tai is simply garnished with half of a spent lime shell and a fresh mint sprig, designed to look like a small island and palm tree on the surface of your drink: fragrant, attractive, and simple. Vic’s today also uses a pineapple and cherry pick, but it’s not traditional.

One recipe I saw used 1 1/2 ounce white rum, then after pouring the drink in the glass, floated 1/2 ounce dark rum on top.

FMM: These drinks are very potent using 2 shots of rum! and another ounce of orange curaçao. They are also quite large drinks, and one is enough. They are very similar to Mojitos, minus the club soda, and are very good. We used regular rum instead of an aged rum. The flavor of the Triple Sec, which is what we had on hand, was not very strong, I could barely taste it over the lime juice, and I'm not sure that I tasted the orgeat. The second time we made them, we doubled the Triple Sec and the orgeat and thought them better (recipe has been updated with these changes). With more orgeat, the almond oils do then tend to separate out - be sure to shake vigorously. Either way, Brian and I both liked them. They make you feel like you are in the Caribbean. Also see the less potent version, Surf Room Mai Tai, below.

2 ounces aged rum*
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice (1 lime), 1 juiced lime half reserved for garnish
1 ounce orange curaçao (can sub Grand Marnier or Triple Sec)
1/4 ounce simple syrup , also known as rock candy syrup
3/4 ounce orgeat*
1 cup crushed ice
1 mint sprig, for garnish

Combine all ingredients except the mint sprig in a cocktail shaker, shake vigorously, and pour the entire contents, including the ice, into a double Old Fashioned glass. [I find the ice tends to water the drink down too much, and perfer to strain the drinks over a few cubes of ice in the glass.]

Garnish with the reserved juiced lime half and a mint sprig.

Makes 1 drink

*This cocktail was born with 100-percent pot-still Jamaican rum that was aged a minimum of 17 years. Rich in both body and oak flavors, there’s no exact substitute today, but look for either 100-percent pot-still or blended pot and column molasses-based rums. Much as the margarita is the perfect delivery vehicle for a wide range of tequilas, the Mai Tai is an elegantly simple delivery vehicle designed to accent and showcase great rum. Whether you blend rums, or even use rhum agricole in your mix, what counts is flavor and body. Just make it with bold, unapologetic rum(s). Suggested brands: Appleton Estate Reserve Blend, Denizen Merchant’s Reserve.

*Orgeat is an almond-sugar syrup traditionally made from whole blanched almonds. The nut oil gives the syrup (and cocktails made with it) a richness that can't be duplicated with a cheap syrup made with almond flavoring and sugar. Try to find a high-quality brand, like the one from Small Hand Foods, or make your own.

Mai Tai with Pineapple Juice
from http://www.moderntiki.com/

"To many, a mai tai is a very sweet drink that has a lot of pineapple juice in it and a much more overtly tropical flavor profile. If you're lounging on the side of a pool in Hawaii, you're probably going to get the pineapple version and they might not be able to make the "classic" recipe for you. Enjoy both versions because a good mai tai is always a good thing.

It was in 1953, the Mai Tai made its fated trip to Hawaii. Shipping company Matson Steamship Lines — which has since been credited with making the Hawaiian islands a popular tourist destination — hired Bergeron to oversee the cocktail menus for the bars at their Royal Hawaiian and Moana Surfrider Hotels. Pineapple and orange juices didn’t infiltrate the Mai Tai until 1954, when Bergeron used them to sweeten his recipe for a more tourist-friendly cocktail at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki.

This mai tai recipe is from the Surf Room of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, and I found it in Beachbum Berry's Intoxica. The drink is similar to the Trader Vic's drink, but it adds in fresh orange and pineapple juices for a more tropical overall flavor. It also uses both lemon and lime, however we prefer to make it with lime alone (and a little extra simple syrup) and included our twist in the recipe below. Since the Surf Room is said to have been serving these since the 1940s, this could very well be one of the first mai tais with a pineapple twist. It's a bit sweeter than the "original" mai tai and goes down very easily, so it's not hard to see how this version of the drink caught on."

Surf Room Mai Tai

1 oz Demerara Rum
1 oz dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz white Puerto Rican Rum
1/4 oz Orange Curacao
1 oz orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 oz pineapple juice, freshly squeezed
3/4 oz lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 oz orgeat syrup
1/2 oz sugar syrup

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, fill with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a large hurricane glass filled with crushed ice and garnish with mint, a lime wedge and an orchid, if you have one.