Aahhhhhhhh the Mai Tai. Is there any other cocktail that SCREAMS (or just softly sighs) that it’s a beautiful summer afternoon by the pool? Nope! There’s just something about tiki drinks that instantly puts me into chill mode. Kids screaming at each other in the pool because one of them “accidentally” nailed the other one in the face with an over-pumped volleyball? Doesn’t matter, I’ve got a Mai Tai in my hand. Figure it out.
What Is A Mai Tai?
I’m glad you asked! This chillaxing cocktail is the perfect introduction to the world of tiki drinks. Tiki is pretty hard to define, but you definitely know it when you see it. Bright red maraschino cherries. A bucket of punch with a touristy logo. Some dude walking down the beach drinking it out of a pineapple. Tiki baby. A Mai Tai takes all the classic pieces of tiki, like multiple spirits, some form of nutty syrup (giggity), and citrus, and combines them into the most tubular drink in existence.
What Rum Should I Use?
Ok here’s the deal. Rum is a very silly family of spirits because there isn’t really a regulated process for making it. Every Caribbean island has it’s own characteristic way of making it. Martinique is different from Jamaica, which is different from Puerto Rico. And some don’t even call it rum, even though it’s made from sugarcane. Brazil has Cachaça, which is in the rum family, and Puerto Rico has Pitorro. What this means is there are tons of different combinations to try. One of the founding tenets of tiki drinks is that you can use 1, 2 or even 3 different rums in a cocktail, with each one bringing it’s own character. This one happens to use two of my favorites I’ve found after a few years of experimenting.
How To Make A Mai Tai
So for me, tiki, and specifically this cocktail, all comes down to the syrup. Every other part of it is pretty much just a normal sour variation. However, the orgeat syrup is crucial to nailing the classic taste, so don’t substitute that part. For my house Mai Tai, I like to use two different rums from a local distillery we found by accident (“accident???” yeah right). They have an unaged dark rum that is very molasses-heavy that gives the cocktail quite a bit of “skunk”. Yes, skunk is technical terminology in my house. They also have a slightly higher proof rum that I cut in equally that’s not quite as skunky but has that nice aged, woody quality to round it out. While I’ve made orgeat syrup in the past, it’s way easier to buy it, so I just use the store for that. You pretty much follow a standard shaken cocktail setup to make it, shake for a little less time since we’re serving it over crushed ice and you don’t want it to get watered down, and voila, it’s vibe time.
Mai Tai Recipe
- 1oz Dark Rum (I use Lyon)
- 1oz Overproof aged rum (I use a different Lyon)
- .5oz orange liqueur
- 1oz Orgeat Syrup
- 1oz Lime
Add the rums, orange liqueur, syrup and lime to a shaker and shake for 5-10 seconds. Pour over crushed ice in a rocks glass, and top up with more crushed ice. Garnish with some of those trashy, bright red maraschino cherries. As with all crushed-ice drinks, throw a straw in there so you’re not dealing with tiny ice bits.